The Freedom To Find A Home
by Post U Later
Summary: When Hiccup realizes there's a huge possibility that he'll be the one to kill the Nightmare, he figures it's time to leave. Follow Hiccup as he makes himself a home away from Berk, one that actually welcomes dragons, making friends, a family of mismatched people that fit together oddly well, and even a boyfriend. Art By LunarCatNinja! WILL NOT BE COMPLETED HERE! I'VE MOVED TO AO3
1. Escaping To Freedom

**A/N~ Hello All! This Is Another How To Train Your Dragon Fic! … Clearly. It's A 'Hiccup Leaves Berk' Fic, & I Hope You Like It! I Know I Have A Few Other Stories Going On, But I've Been Writing This For A Long Time & I Was Going To Wait Until It Was Complete To Post It, But I Thought 'What The Hell' & So I'm Posting It. Probably Not My Best Idea From Past Experiences, But You Never Know! I Have This All Planned Out, It'll Probably Be About 10-15 Chapters Long At The Most… At Least I'm Hoping, By ME Story Was Only Supposed to Be Like 20 & We've Already Past 30 Chapters. So Who Know, Maybe This'll Reach 20? *Shrugs* **

**Anyway, This Takes Place Just Before Hiccup & Astrid Complete For The Chance To Kill The Monstrous Nightmare. Enjoy & Please Tell Me What You Think Of This Story. This Is Just The Prologue, So Please Bare With Me. XD **

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**Warning: Nothing In This Chapter But Some Heart Breaking Sadness, But Not Too Much. XD**

 **Disclaimer: I Do Not Own HTTYD, Or Make Money From This... I Wish I Did Though.**

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 **Ch.1**

 **Prologue: Escaping To Freedom**

 **~2,848~**

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The sun was high in the sky, nearly starting to set as Hiccup tossed a heavy bag over Toothless's saddle, tying it off so it wouldn't fall during flight. Hiccup hopped on afterwards, patting Toothless on the side of the head.

"Ready to go Bud?" Hiccup asked, sitting up and grabbing the grip on the saddle.

Toothless growled deep in his throat in response turning his head slightly so he could see his rider from the corner of his eye. He was happy, he'd never liked it here on Berk, even if it was Hiccup's home. He was a downed dragon on an island full of dragon killers, it was only a matter of time before one of them found his and Hiccup's little cove. So he was glad to finally be leaving here, especially since Hiccup was coming with him. He didn't like that his rider wasn't happy here either.

"Then lets get going. There's nothing left for me here..." Hiccup said sadly. "And there was never anything for you."

Yes, Toothless was very happy they were leaving, he didn't like it when his rider was sad. Toothless growled again and Hiccup rubbed the top of his head in reassurance.

"It's okay Bud, I'll be fine." Hiccup looked up at the dark cloudy sky. "Lets get going before the rain hits."

There was a storm coming, it would be one of the last rainfalls before the freeze hit. His father, no, _Stoic_ ,had just come back from another failed Nest Hunt. Thank Odin the man had come back at all, considering they'd lost more than a third of their fleet. Not that Hiccup would have missed him much. He wasn't much of a father, hence, now thinking of his as _Stoic_ , instead of _father_. Honestly, Hiccup never felt like the son of Stoic the Vast, he had always felt more like an orphan, and he was finally fed up with it. The village never looked at him like the Chief's son, only a burden; something useless and unwanted. Something that should've died the day his mother was taken. It wasn't until he had used the tricks he'd learned from Toothless and did well in Dragon Training that the people of Berk started even regarded him with something wasn't contempt or hatred, but it was all based on tricks. Tricks he'd learned from a dragon.

Toothless jumped into the air, effectively jerking Hiccup out of his depressing thoughts. Clicking his foot into place as they climbed higher, Hiccup held his breath until they reached the cloud bank and breached through to the sunlight. Hiccup inhaled the fresh air. He would never tire of this, flying was his true calling. Sure he wished he could have avoided harming Toothless to eventually have the free feeling of flying, but he had made his first friend and learned the truth, and to both of them, it was worth it.

Hiccup pulled out his map of the neighboring islands. He's done his research on where vikings went, what routs they took to where, it seemed there were perks to being Berks' Heir after all. He'd decided to go to one of the far away, supposedly deserted islands to the South West. It would normally take 13-14 days on boat, but it wouldn't be much more than half a day by flight if they stayed above the storm clouds. Hiccup had decided to pack light, only the essentials. A little food, clothes, some tools, some rope, a picture of his mother, his favorite pillow, a blanket, some sketching materials, all the money he'd saved up over the years, though, admittedly not much, and some spare parts for Toothless's tail.

They flew all day, and well into the night, Hiccup's mind eventually came down from the high of flying and drifted back to the island of Berk and the people he had left behind. He had decided that he should probably leave once he had befriended Toothless and realized he'd NEVER be able to kill a dragon aimlessly like the vikings of Berk did. He could never do it for sport, but it hadn't been clinched until Astrid had told him to choose a side. He chose alright, and he chose the dragons. Sure he didn't know why they attacked the vikings, but maybe that's just all they knew, like the vikings attacking back. But Hiccup knew things could change, after all, Toothless had never taken food, only provided back up for the other dragons, that in itself proved they were more than violent killing machines and could learn. Everything they knew about dragons was wrong. All the hate Stoic spewed was a lie.

Hiccup dreaded the idea of Stoic finding out, practically paling at just the thought, but he had waited until his Chief had gotten back, to see if he would even get back, from the death mission. Even then, he was a bit hesitant about leaving, thinking that Stoic would find him sneaking out to go see Toothless, and then find Toothless. But when Stoic gave him that breast-plate helmet of his mothers, Hiccup knew it was time to go. It was the first present the man had ever given him, besides some pocket money here and there on holidays or his birthday, if he remembered, he usually didn't and it was given by Gobber in Stoic's stead. He'd already packed his stuff and taken it down to the quarry, all Hiccup had to do was write a note explaining everything... well, not everything, but the main reason he was leaving and saying goodbye. He hoped Stoic wouldn't find it for a few days, giving him and Toothless a few days head start, not that they really needed it.

The only person Hiccup could truthfully say he would miss was Gobber. The man was the only person on the island that he considered family. Stoic was the Chief who didn't want him around, thought of his as a menace and a disappointment to his name, his cousin hated him, and was always jealous of him because he wasn't next in line as chief, with Hiccup gone, he would become Chief when Stoic stepped down after he came of age. His uncle was like the rest of the village, didn't like or care for him, thought of him as useless and unnecessary. Hiccup could honestly say he would miss the one legged, one armed man. He had taught him everything he knew about being himself and not listening to what others said, had helped him relieve his stress by letting him work in the forge, staying at his place when him and Stoic argued, and giving him books to write and draw in. In fact, Gobber was the only one to support his artistic talents, which he had gotten from his mother(according to Gobber), even Stoic sneered at his drawings when he was younger, even though other young vikings around his age would draw.

But all of that was behind him now. He'd left everything else behind, all his artwork, sans the drawings of Toothless and the schematics for his tail fin of course, all his trinkets and inventions that sat in the forge, and all of his journals that were hidden away in his desk. They were his past now, and he didn't have to worry about them. The island he was going to would be one the vikings of Berk would never think to look on, not that he thought they would look for him in the first place though.

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 **\- Back on Berk: the next morning -**

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"HICCUP!" Stoic the Vast yelled up the stairs to his only son. "Come on Hiccup! Get down here!"

Stoic waited a moment, and when he heard nothing he figured Hiccup was still asleep.

"That boy could sleep through a dragon raid." Stoic grumbled under his breath before making his way up the stairs to Hiccup's room and knocking on the door. "Hiccup, it's time to get up! You're going to be late for Dragon Training."

Not getting answer again, Stoic huffed in frustration and opened the door. _If that boy is ignoring me, I'll string him up for the dragons._ Stoic thought as he entered his son's room.

"It's the big day Hiccup!" Stoic bellowed as he entered the room. "The elder will choose the one to kill the-"

Stoic stopped as he noticed the room was void of his son. He stepped farther into the room and looked around confused. The bed didn't look like it had been slept in, so Hiccup wasn't just in the bathroom. The closet door was open and empty of any clothing. The picture of his wife that he'd given hiccup so he could remember his mother was missing from the top of his desk, which was, for once, clean. All in all, the room looked like no body lived in it.

"When did he become such a clean freak." Stoic murmured to himself.

He turned to leave when he spotted something poking out from underneath the pillow on the bed. He walked back over and pulled out what seemed to be a note. He sat on the bed, it groaning in protest at the massive viking's weight. Curious about what it was, Stoic flipped the note over and his eyes widened when he saw his name on it. He hesitantly opened the note, getting a bad feeling. His bad feeling only grew into horror and dread as he read the note.

 _Dear Stoic the Vast, Chief of the Hairy Hooligans Tribe,_

The fact that it didn't say 'father' hurt Stoic a little, but he continued reading, maybe it was something formal which needed the title.

 _If you are reading this, then I've already left the island of Berk. I apologize for not telling you in person, but I couldn't take the disappointment I know would be in your eyes. And I feared you wouldn't allow me leave._

 _I do not want you to think I was taken and forced to write this, so I will give you plenty of reasons behind my leaving._

 _You may not have known,_ _ **doubtful**_ _, but possible, but I was ridiculed, mocked, and made fun of_ _ **constantly**_ _since before I could remember. The villagers insulted me and threw things at me, some even going so far as to physically hurt me by pushing me down and kicking me._

 _Only in the last month, during dragon training, have they even begun to be even remotely nice to me. Though they still talk about me hind my back, they don't think I can hear them, but I can. Even doing well in that_ _ **horrid**_ _ **ring of torture**_ _, I'm still the_ _ **outcast**_ _. They're all just happy I won't be_ _ **completely**_ _ **useless**_ _against the_ _ **dragon scum**_ _. But, please, don't blame them(please note the sarcasm since I doubt you'd see it that way), they were only following_ _ **your**_ _lead. I don't want to point fingers(actually, I do, and I'm pointing all ten of mine at you), but you single handedly made me feel like an outcast more than_ _ **anyone else**_ _on this island ever could have._

 _I know you take your Chieftain duties seriously, and wish to take care of and treat everyone_ _ **equally**_ _, but I feel that in that regard, you have failed. You never treated me like the others, you treated me like a_ _ **disappointment**_ _, which, I guess I_ _ **was**_ _. You never treated me like your_ _ **son**_ _, which, I guess I_ _ **wasn't**_ _. I'm sorry I survived and my mother was taken, if I could change the past, I would have a long time ago to allow her to survive, or both of us be taken._

 _I'm digressing(do you even know what that means?), the point is, the people of Berk didn't know any better, and honestly, don't blame yourself for me leaving, there was_ _ **nothing**_ _you could have done to stop me. Even if you suddenly_ _ **treated me like a person**_ _, rather than a talking fishbone, I doubt I would have stayed much longer anyway. Beside, I never felt like a viking, so fitting in with an island of vikings was_ _ **impossible**_ _from the start. I've felt that I didn't belong for a long time, and me leaving was a long time coming and_ _ **inevitable**_ _._

 _Please don't search for me, I do not want to be found. Not that you could ever find me where I'm staying. By the time you find and read this letter, I will be islands away, possible days away and on another island far, far away._

 _Please tell Gobber I'm sorry I left the forge a mess, but there is a present underneath his spare goblet hand attachment. And tell him I will_ _ **miss**_ _him, but I was never meant to be a viking, I don't have the_ _ **constitution**_ _ **to**_ _ **kill**_ _ **dragons**_ _aimlessly like vikings do, and wouldn't be able to. Please tell him that this_ _ **island**_ _is a_ _ **disease**_ _and it's_ _ **slowly**_ _ **killing**_ _me, so I must leave to get better. I'm_ _ **sorry**_ _I left without saying goodbye, but I didn't want you to try and stop me. Gobber, you were the_ _ **father**_ _ **I never had growing up,**_ _and you_ _ **taught**_ _ **me everything**_ _I know and I_ _ **value**_ _ **your**_ _ **opinion**_ _above all else. Please_ _ **don't worry**_ _, I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing and I hope to see you again._

 _And to you Stoic, you may do whatever you want with my stuff I left behind. I don't plan to retrieve it at any point. I took all my important stuff, so you can burn anything and everything if you wish it. I don't care anymore what you do, just don't look for me._

 _I do not plan to ever come back, seeing as I am not welcome in this place I deem as a strange land, after all, I have lived on Berk my whole life, but I've been treated as nothing but an outsider. Maybe one day, we will meet again._

 _Goodbye and Farewell,_

 _Hiccup The Free_

Stoic dropped the note as he read Hiccup's signature, barely noticing that Hiccup didn't sign his real full name but rather something else. He ignored the fallen note, and the tears that made their way from his eyes into his beard, and ran from the room.

"HICCUP! HICCUP!" Stoic yelled as he ran from room to room in his hut, throwing doors open and when he didn't see his son, he left to the next room.

When he ran out of rooms, he moved outside, he threw open the door only to realize he had no idea where his son could be. He didn't know where his son hung out, or whom he hung out with. The only place he could think of looking was the Forge. He bolted to the Forge and made it there in record time. Gobber was making something he couldn't identify, his mechanical hand a hammer as he hit the misshapen piece of hot metal on the anvil.

"GOBBER!" Stoic yelled as he burst into the room.

"AHH!" Gobber yelled back, throwing the hot metal over his head and out of the open window.

"OW!" Someone outside yelled.

"GOBBER!" Stoic yelled again.

"STOIC! What gives!" Gobber said, placing his real hand over his heart as he glanced out the window, grimacing as the chunk of metal was thrown back through the window. "Sorry!"

"Gobber, Hiccup's gone!" Stoic said, calming, but only slightly.

Gobber stared at Stoic for a long moment before huffing and turning around to grab the ruined piece of metal off the ground.

"Yeeesss, and I told you that when you came back." Gobber says exasperated. "He disappears often. Leaves to places unknown. Some of the youngsters have tried following him, but he's surprisingly sneaky for someone so clumsy."

"No, Gobber, you don't understand." Stoic begins, feeing tears threaten to overcome his eyes. "Hiccup he-"

"Stoic, honestly, you treat that boy like a fragile piece of glass and it does nothing to help him." Gobber said sighing sadly. "He's a teenager, they will do what they please. You can't sto-"

"GOBBER!" Stoic yelled, cutting Gobber off. "He left a note! He said he's leaving Berk! AND NEVER COMING BACK!"

Gobber's eyes widened and his skin paled. The sound of metal hitting the ground sounding throughout the forge as he dropped the disfigured piece of metal to the ground.

"W-what?" Gobber stuttered, not believing his long time friend.

"He-he..." Stoic looked down at his hand. "He left a note. He said he couldn't take living here any more... Something about being treated unfairly and being hated... But that's not true! I could NEVER hate him!"

Stoic looked up pleadingly at his best friend, hoping this was all a dream. But there was a painful understanding that filled Gobber's eyes and Stoic knew this was no dream, but a waking nightmare. When Gobber spoke, it was clear he was distraught, but it also held a hint of proudness and understanding that Stoic himself could never hope to understand.

"Show me this note Stoic."

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 **E/N~ So? What'd You Think? Good? Bad? Worth Continuing… Well, I'll Continue It Anyway, But It Would Be Nice To Know There Were People Who Enjoyed It. XD**

 **The Next Chapter Will Be Hiccup Arriving At His New Home, And Gobber Reading Hiccup's Note: Here's A Sneak Peak:**

"There it is!" Hiccup yelled in joy. "Toothless, go up higher, I wanna get a dragon's-eye view of our new home."

.

"This place is amazing." Hiccup told Toothless, whom wasn't listen, as he was sniffing the diamonds and other rocks.

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"Toothless! This is awesome!" Hiccup waved his arms in the air. "That cave has an escape route!"

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"… Hiccup doesn't know much, he always skipped lessons to go troll hunting or something equally ridiculous."

"Hey! Trolls are real!"

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"But that's just it Gobber, the Freeze is coming! Hiccup can't survive the Freeze by himself!" Stoic yelled, waving his hands frantically in the air. "He'll die out there!"

"No Stoic, he wont!"

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"Stoic," Gobber said firmly. "Not everything can be fixed right away, give this some time."

"But... how long?" Stoic asked, he was at a loss.

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"Fine, have it your way." Stoic grumbled.

"No Stoic, it's not my way." Gobber told him seriously. "It's Hiccups'."

 **There You Are! A Sneak Peak, The Next Chapter Is About Twice As Long As This One, Most Of Them Will Be Over 5k, So Look Forward To Them! XD**


	2. Finding Home

**A/N~ Hey Everyone! Here's The Next Chapter, Quite A Bit Longer. You Know, I've Noticed That My First Chapters Are Usually Half The Size Of My Regular Chapters. I Know My Prologues Are Usually Shorter, But I Guess They're All A Bit Like Prologues Huh? Anyway, This Chapter's Got A LOT Of Info In It. Hiccup Finds His New Home, Gobber Reads Hiccup's Note, & We Even Have A Flashback To Pre-Movie Time! So I Hope You Enjoy! XD **

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**Warning: Um… Stoic Being A Bad Parent? I Guess That's Really All, I Can't Really Think Of Anything Else.**

 **Disclaimer: I Do NOT Own HTTYD. Wish I Did Though.**

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 **Ch.2**

 **Finding Home**

 **~5,985~**

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The sun was beginning to rise. It had been upwards of 16 hours since the pair had left the Island of Berk. It had taken them a bit longer than Hiccup had expected. He'd forgotten to account for bathroom breaks and food stops. Mostly for him, but neither cared because they'd had fun and found some interesting islands on the way.

They had found an island with nice plump red berries that he'd never had before. They were juicy and delicious, Toothless loved them too. He gathered quite a few in his satchel to snack on during the flight. They'd stopped on one island that was over run with long-tailed, short eared rabbits, and Hiccup had set a few traps and caught a staggering 7 rabbits in only HALF AN HOUR! After Hiccup skinned them, they'd cooked some of the meat with a fire Toothless made and Hiccup enjoyed a feast of seared rabbit and Toothless enjoyed a snack of raw rabbit meat, eating them whole.

They'd also flew over an island that was inhabited by dragons, though far too small of a group to be the nest, maybe only 2 dozen dragons, a few of which he'd never seen before. For a second Hiccup thought they were attacking when they flew up to them, but it was only a greeting it seemed. They flew around Toothless, seemingly trying to get him to play with them as they seemed to ignore the fact he had a rider. Toothless snorted and they flew off, the dragons following them a bit before turning back to their island.

They were only a ways away from their destined island, and Hiccup made a note of each island they passed on his map. Most weren't on it. There was Rabbit Island, Berry Island, and Dragon Island, as Hiccup quickly named them after what he'd found on said islands. He turned in his saddle to glance back at the retreating dragons.

"We'll have to come back Buddy, they seemed nice." Hiccup said, and smiled at Toothless's snort. "Oh come on, they just wanted to play. That much was obvious."

Toothless grumbled and and dived closer to the water. After half an hour, an island came into sight.

"There it is!" Hiccup yelled in joy. "Toothless, go up higher, I wanna get a dragon's-eye view of our new home."

Toothless soared into the sky over the island as they got closer. The island wasn't small, but it was no where near the size of Berk, maybe only 1/3 the size, about 2 miles long and a mile wide. Despite it's lacking in size, it held everything Hiccup needed to survive. The island was home to a volcano on the far side, keeping the whole island warm and not allowing the water to freeze over during the Big Freeze. Because of the volcano, there were deposits of clay at its base, perfect for making pottery. The trees at the base were thick and short, perfect for cutting and building, and further away from the volcano the trees got steadily taller and thinner and bushier, perfect for providing cover.

But there were 2 real kickers the island had that had made Hiccup choose it. One was the small lake in the middle. It was surrounded by a sandy beach and was pure water, sterilized naturally by the volcano. It held exotic fish and fed the trees and wild life of the forest that surrounded the beach. It was crystal blue and the sand was pure white and covered nearly the entire bottom of the lake, it was clear the sand was partially volcanic ash, the middle of the lake held a smaller island that made Hiccup chuckle. An island on an island... Too funny. The smaller island was bare, just a clump of rock, but Hiccup could easily tell that rock would soon become Toothless's favorite tanning spot.

The second kicker was that the island was raised a good 100 feet above the sea surrounding it. There was no way to get on the island except from the air. It was once said that a man climbed the rocks that protected the island and when he left he told tales of mermaids and gods. He'd called the island Olympus Island, though most called it The Fortress for obvious reasons. No one believed the man, mainly because the man had nothing to prove he'd really gone there, no witnesses, no souvenirs, nothing to back his claim up and the terrain of the island was still unmapped. Until now.

Hiccup took a good five minutes sketching the islands' main features: the lake, the tall forest, the short forest, the volcano, it even had some rocky mountains on one side that had snow covered tips, and the river that cut its way threw the tall forest from the mountains and ended at the lake, obviously one of the lakes' sources of water.

They flew following the river to the mountains, hoping to find a cave or a clearing they could call home. They zigged and zagged with the flow of the river, and Hiccup swore he'd build a raft and drift down the whole thing one day. When they reached a waterfall at the base of the mountains they stopped for a bit to drink and to explore. Hiccup ended up falling in the small pond that seemingly forms at the bottom of all waterfalls. Luckily the down pull from the fall wasn't too strong and Hiccup easily swam to the surface, right under the spray of water. Toothless gave a warbbly laugh as he swam behind the waterfall and climbed on the rocks, shaking the excess water from his hair and moving it so he could see.

Shocked was Hiccup's only emotion right them. He stared up at the water that cascaded down, the sun shining threw said crystal blue water, casting a beautiful blue glow on the huge cave that resided behind the waterfall. The smaller entrance easily hidden from the outside world.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup yelled, the sound echoing off the cave walls. "COME LOOK AT THIS!"

A second later Toothless glided seamlessly through the cascading water and landed beside Hiccup. He too stared at the beautiful cave in wonder. The walls were lined with many colors of rocks and crystals. Hiccup knew what some of them were, having seen them on Trader Johann's ship. There was Jasper; a bright orange color, Opalite; a bright white color mixed with grays, Gypsum; a darker gray color, Dolomite; a pale yellow color, Calcite; a dull gold color, Amber; a brownish color mixed with deep reds and silver, and some other he didn't know the name of. However, there was one other that he knew the name of. He had only seen it once in his whole life, but he never forgot its magnificence.

"Diamonds." Hiccup whispered in awe. "Beautiful."

Hiccup remembered the first time he'd seen one on trader Johann's ship. Johann had said it was worth more than his entire ship and the thing was the size of a pebble. Now, the walls were lined with them. With all of the diamonds that lined the walls of the cave combined, Hiccup could buy the island of Berk, ten times over! And STILL have money left over. Knowing what greed did to people, he swore he would use them sparingly and only in emergencies.

"This place is amazing." Hiccup told Toothless, whom wasn't listen, as he was sniffing the diamonds and other rocks.

Hiccup traveled deeper into the cave. He found that it opened up into a very large cavern, which could easily fit a large house, or two. Hiccup stood in the middle of the cave, turning in circles trying to grasp the sheer size of the cave.

"Whoa." Hiccup's voice echoed, and he noticed that the echo traveled farther than he could see.

Turning around again, he noticed another entrance to the large cavern, this one off to the right side of the original entrance, but more towards the back of the cave. He walked to it, Toothless noticed Hiccup's distraction and followed. The new entrance was smaller than the cave, and did not open up to the outside, instead it was a tunnel. They traveled a long ways, possibly even as far as a mile. It was a good twenty minutes of walking later that they came to the end. The exit of the tunnel was covered by vines and when they exited through the curtain of vines they found themselves back near the lake.

Shocked, Hiccup turned to Toothless and the covered entrance, which he could barely see, even though he knew it was there.

"Toothless! This is awesome!" Hiccup waved his arms in the air. "That cave has an escape route!"

Toothless gurgled in the back of his throat in understanding, even as he walked closer towards the lake, looking at his reflection, now ignoring Hiccup as he began to ramble.

"This is so cool!" Hiccup began, either not noticing or not caring that Toothless was ignoring him. "If we make that cave out home, we'll have easy access to the lake through this back entrance, which means easy access to food, and the waterfall will provide clean water. The exit is also hidden very well, so no one can sneak up on us. Even though no one can get here without riding a dragon, but dragons could find it. We'll have to booby trap it somehow, just to let us know if someone or something does find it. Maybe we can.."

Hiccup went on, explaining his ideas to the oblivious Toothless as the dragon began to catch fish for their breakfast, seeing as it was early morning. Hiccup only stopped talking when he heard Toothless shoot one of his fireballs at some twigs he'd pushed together, instantly making a small fire.

"Thank Bud." Hiccup smiled as he thanked Toothless. He then proceeded to tease the dragon about his tiny, shoddily made fire until the fish was ready to eat.

* * *

 **\- Back on Berk -**

* * *

Gobber read the note, several times, in fact. Stoic was getting impatient, but Gobber couldn't believe what he was reading. This really was written by Hiccup, Stoic had entertained the thought that someone had kidnapped him and written a fake letter, but as soon as Gobber had seen it, he knew that it was written by Hiccup's hand. He reread it once more, taking in the small details that surely Stoic had overlooked, such as the darker, nearly bolded words in the note, indicating that Hiccup pressed down harder, probably full of emotion as he wrote it.

There was: _doubtful_ , talking about whether or not Stoic knew about Hiccup's bullying at the hands of the village. Gobber wasn't sure himself if Stoic didn't know, or if he knew and just turned a blind eye to it, hoping it would make Hiccup into a man.

Then there was his talk about Dragon Training: _horrid ring of torture, outcast, completely useless,_ and _dragon scum_. Gobber himself had trained the boy, and he had noticed that Hiccup didn't want to be there, but the fact that he showed up made him think that it was either a front or that maybe he didn't want to be in the same class as Astrid. Hiccup had once told him of his crush on the girl and thought maybe he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of her and then be teased by his cousin. But now it seemed he was proven wrong. Hiccup really didn't want to harm dragons. He didn't have the constitution for it, and Gobber had seen that from an early age. Hiccup didn't have the build, nor the mindset. Hiccup was an inventor, a builder, much like the elder had been when she was younger. Much more intelligent than the average viking. Hiccup's mother had also been more intelligent and had not wanted to fight dragons, but then she was taken.

There was Hiccup talking about his father and how h treated him: _equally, disappointment, nothing, treated me like a person, impossible,_ and _inevitable_. It was kind of sad, but Gobber had to agree with Hiccup. Though Stoic was his best friend, the man did not know how to separate his job from his family. And it seemed that Hiccup realized that to Stoic, he only had a job, and his family fell under that. Though Gobber had the suspicion that Hiccup thought Stoic felt he didn't have a family.

And then there was the talk about being a viking and Gobber being a real father, which hit Gobber right in the chest and took his breath away: _Constitution to kill dragons, island is a disease, slowly killing, father I never had growing up,_ and _taught me everything._ Gobber felt a tear flow down his cheek. Gobber had always felt that Hiccup was as close to him as a son could be, and he now felt like a father who'd just lost his son and he chocked back a sob as a bolt of pain shot through his heart.

But that last line dulled the pain, and happiness and proudness reared up through his entire system. It was how Hiccup had signed his name.

 _Hiccup The Free_

Gobber smiled down at the letter, Hiccup was finally free. Free of all the burden that had been placed on his shoulders, the fear he had, the anger, the despair, and the disappointment that was both pointed at him by Stoic and pointed at Stoic by him. If Gobber had to guess, Hiccup probably felt the best he's ever felt right at that moment.

Gobber looked up from the note at Stoic, the man was pacing the room, grabbing at the many braids in his beard, grumbling about search parties. The man truly believed that it was written by someone who had taken Hiccup. Gobber shook his head in disappointment, the man couldn't even recognize his own son's handwriting. Sad.

"Stoic." Gobber spoke, folding the note back up. "Stoic you-"

"Gobber, so you've read it." Stoic interrupted. "What do you make of it? Who do you think wrote it and took Hiccup? What could their plan be? Force him to tell them all our island's secrets? Hiccup doesn't know much, he always skipped lessons to go troll hunting or something equally ridiculous."

"Hey! Trolls are real!" Gobber started, but stopped himself from having this conversation yet again. "No, it doesn't matter. This note wasn't written by someone else. It's pure Hiccup."

"So you think he was forced to write something?" Stoic concluded. "Perhaps he left some clues in there? Why else would he write about all that false stuff?"

"Stoic." Gobber sighed in exasperation. "You don't get it. This wasn't written by someone else, and no one forced Hiccup to write it."

"You can't know that!" Stoic nearly roared, not wanting to think of the implications if someone didn't forced Hiccup to write it. "Those are all lies! Hiccup would never write that!"

"Yes, he would! The fact that you don't even know your son's own handwriting speaks volumes!" Gobber roared back, startling Stoic silent. "I've noticed that Hiccup was a loner in this village and never fit in! He's always been bullied and I've tried to help, but I'm only one viking and the fact that you never paid attention to him and constantly left the island for your fanatic revenge drove Hiccup into a path of pain and lonesome! He was never like you so you treated him different! And THAT'S what drove him away! This letter is telling the truth, I know! I spent more time with Hiccup than you did! And he isn't even my SON! But he still considers me a father because he never had one! You and your neglect pushed him away until he was a stranger in his home land! Are you happy?"

Stoic just stood there, staring at his best friend. He wanted to be angry, deny the accusations thrown at him, but deep down, he knew they were true. He had never meant to push Hiccup away, but once he'd lost Valhallarama, he'd sort of shut down. He didn't know how to raise a child, and he'd just lost the love of his life, so he threw himself at his job full throttle and when he stopped to notice he had a son, Hiccup had grown up into someone he didn't recognize as what his son could possibly be. They had nothing in common, Stoic liked to train, Hiccup liked to draw, Stoic enjoyed a good goblet of mead with his large meal of mostly meat, Hiccup liked berry juice with his small dish of equal parts meat and vegetables, Stoic liked to kill dragons with his axe or bare hands, Hiccup liked to create things that would do it for him and work in the forge or explore rather than even talk about killing dragons. Stoic had no idea who this child named Hiccup was or how he came to be.

But, he could fix it. They'd started to talk a bit more since Dragon Training, and Hiccup had excelled in it... but he'd said in the note that he didn't have the constitution to kill dragons, where that came from, Stoic had no clue. Perhaps Hiccup had just gotten the jitters about fighting Astrid for the spot to kill the Nightmare? But no, Hiccup had said this was a long time coming, that nothing could have stopped him from leaving. He could feel the anger and defeat stain the page when he'd read the note. Where had all this come from? How could he not have noticed? He needed to find Hiccup to understand what had happened, to fix it... before it was too late.

"No Stoic, I know that look." Gobber said angrily, still seething a bit from his outburst. "Hiccup doesn't want to be found! Besides, the Freeze is only weeks away, and if I know Hiccup like I know Hiccup, he'll be even more furious if you search for him and find him."

"But that's just it Gobber, the Freeze is coming! Hiccup can't survive the Freeze by himself!" Stoic yelled, waving his hands frantically in the air. "He'll die out there!"

"No Stoic, he wont!" Gobber growled in frustration. "This is exactly the behavior I'm talking about, you're treating Hiccup like a toddler! HE'S 15 STOIC! Practically a man now! Remember when he was 10 and got lost in the snow storm? He was fine!"

"How could I forget?" Stoic grumbled, remembering that horrible winter 5 years ago, he had been so worried.

* * *

 **~ WARNING: This Is A Flashback! ~ We're Traveling Backward In Time ~ Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... Stuff ~** **From Hiccup's POV**

* * *

It was snowing, but Hiccup didn't care, he snuck out his window. Hiccup was only a week into his 10th year and it had, once again, been ignored. His father hadn't even been in the house the whole day. Hiccup had held the hope that maybe Stoic was going to surprise him with something, maybe a new tunic or maybe some silver, but no, when he'd come home he stunk of mead and hadn't even looked at him as he walked up the stairs and closed the door to his bedroom, staying there for the whole night. Hiccup had learned a long time ago that crying was useless, but he couldn't help the tear that slid down his cheek. Sure he'd gotten a gift from Gobber and the elder, but that was it. He'd never gotten a gift from his father besides a few copper coins thrown at him a week or two after his birthday as a 'sort of sorry,' and every year he'd wished and hoped for an actual present, but fate was fickle and denied him his one wish.

He thought that maybe it was punishment for all the damage he'd caused when the dragons attacked and he'd tried to help. He really did feel bad for those moments, he just wanted to prove himself, and now that he was ten, he was going to do it. He had the perfect plan to make his father proud of him.

He'd seen something the week before while he was out with Gobber during a snow break, packing snow into buckets and grabbing small sticks to take back to the forge. Gobber had shown him how to make curved dagger for his birthday. He'd seen a really rare plant up on a small cliff, a Vivit hyeme, one of the few flowers that could survive the harsh snow the Freeze brought with it. It was a rare medical plant, one that the village was in desperate need of. They'd had a few growing in the medical garden, but during a dragon raid, they'd been burnt to ashes. The medicine the Vivit hyeme produced help cure several illnesses that frequented the village during the Freeze. One flower could create near a dozen doses of medicine.

Hiccup had tried to tell Gobber, but the man wasn't feeling well and couldn't pay much attention to him. Hiccup knew that the man was sick, and shouldn't even be outside in the cold, but the man was as stubborn as Stoic. There was a thought, he could tell Stoic, his father, but no, the man would ignore him like he always did, and on the off chance he did listen to him, he wouldn't believe him. He'd probably say something along the lines of him seeing things that weren't there.

With those thoughts in his head, Hiccup made up his mind. He'd waited for the perfect opportunity. Everyone was in their houses, another snow storm was coming, not a big one, but no one dared to venture outside at the moment... No one except Hiccup. He gathered some essentials, a rope, a few hooks, a knife, a small thing of flint, a small shovel, a few pieces of parchment paper, and a warm blanket and stuffed them all in his pack. He put on two pairs of socks, his warmest boots, two tunics, as well as two pairs of trousers, the warmest ox fur coat he owned, and a goat skin hat, and covered his face with a matching goat skin scarf. He pulled on his ox skin gloves and hopped out the window. He would make it back before the storm got too bad.

It didn't take him long to find the area he'd seen the flower, only an hour, and even less time to spot said flower. Now that he knew where it was, the hard part kicked in: getting the flower without dying. The snow was a foot or two thick, and a few inches of power, not the best conditions for climbing a cliff. _On the bright side, it wasn't snowing... oh wait, never mind._ Hiccup though just as he was forming a plan to climb the cliff. It started to snow, not hard, and luckily the wind wasn't blowing, but still, more snow was never good, that meant the storm was closing in. He didn't have much time get the flower and get back to the village before he was snowed out.

Ignoring the new snowing factor for the moment, Hiccup tied one end of the rope to one of the hooks, and tossed it high into the air, above the flower and it latched onto a rock. Hiccup pulled and found the rope secure enough, he then tied the other end around himself. He took 2 more hooks and used them to climb the snow covered rocks. It took him nearly an hour to climb the 40 feet up to where the plant was, but what he saw once he reached the flower shocked him.

The flower was on the edge of a small plateau in the cliff. But that's not what shocked him, what shocked him was that there was more than a dozen Vivit hyeme's on said plateau. More than enough to cure everyone in the whole village if they were to get sick, and there would be some left over even! Hiccup, very nearly screamed in joy! His father would definitely be proud of him if he were to bring back 3 or 4 of the flowers. Gobber had only gotten worse since going out in the cold a week before, and he needed the medicine these flowers produced, or he most likely wouldn't make it through the winter. Hiccup took the knife out of his pack, and gently cut the flowers just under the petals so it would grow back next year and placed them individually on pieces of parchment paper and wrapped them up to help preserve them before tucking them safely in his pack.

When he began descending the cliff, Hiccup noticed that the wind had picked up quite a bit, as had the snow. It was a full on blizzard now, the wind nearly blowing him off the cliff. He was blown off course at one point, and his footprints on the cliff had disappeared, so Hiccup had no idea where he was stepping. Hiccup cursed as he carefully descended. Half way down, however, Hiccup misstepped and nearly fell the last 20 feet, sure the snow would have softened the impact, but Hiccup's body wasn't sturdy to say the least, and a fall from that height, cushioned or not, would hurt and possibly break a bone. Hiccup tried to get his footing back, but when he kicked his foot at the cliff, it went through the rock as the snow fell away. The rock under him crumbled, falling to the ground, destroying any soft landing he might have had if he fell.

However, in place of the fallen rocks, was a small cavern. Hiccup regained his footing and climbed down the few feet to look at it. The cavern seemed to go at least ten feet into the cliff and was a perfect place to hide until the storm settled or passed completely. Making up his mind, Hiccup climbed into the small cave and untied the rope from himself, yanking the rope and hook free and putting them back in the pack, pulling out the blanket as he did. He'd been planning on using the blanket to cover himself if it started to snow on his hour walk back, not for this, but he was just happy he had it, it was pretty cold, even with all his extra clothes on. Deciding that it was still a bit too cold for him, Hiccup pulled off his coat and one of his tunics, he put the coat back on and ripped the tunic into strips. He looked around and found quite a bit of grass growing in the cave. _It must have been protected from the snow._ Hiccup thought as he plucked all the grass and put it into a pile, layering the strips of cloth down with it. He pulled out the flint and started a fire, luckily the grass wasn't dry and the cloth was slow burning, or it would have burnt out right away, now, it would last at least a few hours, hopefully keeping him warm until the storm died down.

Hiccup curled up in a small ball wrapped in his blanket, a small fire going, and nearly fell asleep. It was about 4 hours later as he was dozing that he heard a voice calling his name. The fire was just smolders now and there was a small trickle of smoke coming out of the cave. Hiccup crawled around what was left of the fire and stuck his head out of the hole. It was no longer windy and the snow was only lightly falling, but it was obvious that the storm was over.

Looking around for the voices calling his name, Hiccup saw several vikings mulling around the bottom of the cliff and the woods nearby, obviously looking for him. He couldn't hear what they were saying as they started talking, only the yells of his name farther off, so he yelled back down.

"I'm up here!" Hiccup called down, causing the viking to look up in surprise.

Quickly a dozen viking, including his father, had gathered around the base of the cliff.

"HICCUP!" Stoic yelled, angry and not worried like he had thought his father might be... he should have known better.

"I'm fine!" Hiccup yelled. "I'll be right down!"

Hiccup quickly doused the smolders with some snow and pulled out the hook and rope, attaching it to the cliff just outside the cave and wrapping the rope around himself and then proceeded to carefully climb down. When Hiccup got to the bottom he had a big smile on his face as he put the rope and hook away. When he turned around though, his smile dropped at the angry look on his father's face.

"What were you thinking Hiccup!?" Stoic yelled, causing Hiccup to flinch at the volume. "Going out into that storm! CLIMBING A CLIFF! Do you have a DEATH WISH?"

"NO!" Hiccup cried back, surprising Stoic and a few other vikings, Hiccup rarely raised his voice at Stoic. "I was getting these!"

Hiccup dug through his pack and pulled out one of the parchment papers and unwrapped it, causing several vikings to gasp as they looked at the flower.

"Vivit hyeme's." Stoic whispered, then growled, "Where did you get this Hiccup?"

"U-up on the cliff?" Hiccup frowned in confusion, wasn't his father supposed to be proud he'd gotten it? What had he done wrong?

Stoic grabbed Hiccup by the arm and dragged him the entire way back to the village and straight to the elder where Hiccup gave the her all of the flowers he'd taken. She said thank you a few times before Stoic dragged him from the hut and to their home. Once inside, Stoic slammed the door and marched Hiccup up to his bedroom and tossed him inside. Hiccup noticed the window was open, _probably how he realized I was gone, it was too cold_. Hiccup thought as he turned to look at Stoic.

"You are to stay here Hiccup!" Stoic roared. "I am so angry with you right now!"

Stoic then slammed the door and left. Hiccup heard the front door slam and figured that Stoic had left the house. Hiccup was so confused, why was his father so angry with him? He could understand if Stoic was upset that he'd left without saying anything and right before a storm as well, but nothing that warranted such anger. Hiccup rubbed his arm, pulling off his coat and lifting the arm of his tunic to see a large bruise forming from his elbow to his shoulder where his father had gripped his arm. It hurt a lot. He knew his father didn't mean it, the man was angry and didn't know his own strength, beside, Hiccup bruised so easily, sometimes he got bruises from just sitting down too fast, but his arm was going to hurt for weeks.

Stoic didn't come back until the night, and by then Hiccup had fallen asleep in his bed. Gobber stopped by the next day, feeling much better thanks to the medicine Hiccup had found. Hiccup told Gobber what happened on the cliff and Gobber thanked him, but also scolded him about going out in the dangerous storm, he would have been find another day or so. Hiccup apologized for worrying him, but made not attempt to apologize to his father, simply because he didn't know what to apologize for, obviously he wasn't worried about Hiccup, or he would have said something like Gobber had. When Gobber left, Hiccup just sat on his bed and silently cried to himself.

* * *

 **~ WARNING: End Of Flashback! ~ We're Traveling Back Forward In Time ~ Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... Stuff ~** **Berk**

* * *

"That was the worst! Hiccup nearly died because he was being foolish and wanted to be the hero." Stoic snarled at the memory.

"That's how you see it. But I see it differently, and so does Hiccup." Gobber said, putting his hand up to stop Stoic from interrupting. "He told me what happened. He went in search of the flowers for two reasons Stoic: 1; to help me, and 2, his main reason; to make you proud of him."

"Proud?" Stoic asked confused.

"Yes, he told me you had forgotten his birthday again and thought it was a punishment or something and wanted to redeem himself in your eyes." Gobber said quietly at the shocked look on his friend's face. "He just wanted to make his father proud, but instead you yelled at him and didn't even praise him for the good he did. He was fine the entire time, he climbed the cliff, and when he was climbing down the weather worsened and he climbed into the cave and stayed there the entire time until he heard you and the search party calling for him. He was safe the entire time. Even if the storm had been twice as long, he would have been fine. But you pushed him away, and the next day I could tell he'd cried himself to sleep again that night, all because of your reaction."

"He-he cried himself to sleep?" Stoic nearly gasped. "I... I didn't know."

"That's because you were never there Stoic." Gobber scolded him. "You may be my best friend, and the best chief the Island of Berk has ever seen, but you're a rubbish father! Valhallarama would be so furious with you if she were here now."

Stoic's eyes widened and his face looked stricken as it paled. The thought of his wife struck his heart, but what Gobber said, he knew was true. If Valhallarama had been there right then, she probably would have tried to lop off his head with a meat cleaver. He felt disappointed in himself, he realized how horrible a father he had been too his son, ignoring him, distancing himself, neglecting him, shouting and yelling at him, forgetting his birthdays and purposely forgetting to spend holidays with him. He realized now, that he never acted like a father to him, they were so drastically different he treated him as a stranger, and ignored what others did to him. He was terrible, and he didn't deserve Hiccup... but if he didn't look for him like Hiccup wanted, how could he fix this situation. Confused on what to do, Stoic asked Gobber that very question.

"But how do I fix this?" Stoic asked. "How can I show him I love him and fix everything if I don't look for him?"

"Stoic." Gobber sighed, seeing the pain, guilt, and remorse in his friend's eyes. "Some things can't be fixed."

"But-" Stoic began but Gobber halted his rebuttal cold.

"Stoic," Gobber said firmly. "Not everything can be fixed right away, give this some time."

"But... how long?" Stoic asked, he was at a loss.

"Wait the Freeze out, and if Hiccup hasn't made contact by then, well..." Gobber gave Stoic a deadpan look. "Then Hiccup's serious about this. And if he says you wont be able to find him, then you wont. It took me a week to find him once when we were playing hide and seek when he was younger and that was only because he got bored and gave up."

"But how do I fix this if I don't look for him?" Stoic pleaded.

"Like I said, wait for the Freeze to end and then we'll discuss this again." Stoic grumbled at Gobber's insistence that he wait until the Freeze pass, but nodded. "If we give him the Freeze to cool off and think things over, he might just come back on his own, or he might be ready to be found, but we'll have to wait until then. Besides, there's no way we can send a search party out right now, they'd get frozen in the middle of the sea!"

"Fine, have it your way." Stoic grumbled.

"No Stoic, it's not my way." Gobber told him seriously. "It's Hiccups'."

* * *

 **E/N~ So? What'd You Think? & Please Don't Be Too Hard On Stoic, I Know I'm Kinda Making Him The Bad Guy, But He'll Get Better…. Maybe. This Story Isn't finished Yet, So Who Knows What'll Happen, But That's What I'm Planning, For Him To End Up A Good Guy. **

**Also, I'm Having Trouble Deciding What Injury I Should Give Hiccup In Future Chapters. I Know He'll Be Getting One From Fighting The Red Death, But I'm Not Sure If I Just Want It To Be Cannon & He Loses His Foot & Some Of His Calf, Or If I Want It To Be Huge Burns Covering All Of His Back, His Shoulder, & Some Of His Stomach & Chest, Or If It Should Be Something Else? I'll Put Up A Poll Regarding It On My Profile, So Check It Out If You Can, Or Tell Me In A Review! Much Thanks! **

**Here's A Sneak Peak At The Next Chapter:**

About an hour and a half away from The Fortress, in the opposite direction of Berk, there was a rather large Trading Post.

.

"Be back in a bit Buddy." Hiccup swallowed as he started paddling towards the island. "This wont be so bad."

.

"Well, Hiccup the Free, what ya here for?" Grout asked, tying the rope to the dock. "Business or pleasure? Or a bit of both?" Grout waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and laughed as Hiccup blushed.

.

"Oh? And who's this with you?" The woman asked, looking at Hiccup with a critical eye, making Hiccup squirm.

.

The man walked away, and now that Hiccup had sold to one customer, it seemed more people noticed his stall.

He grabbed another rope and a wood sign and carved _Hiccup the Free_ into the wood and tied it to the rope, and then put it across the spot Hiccup had just left.

.

"Come on Bud, lets go home."

 **Well, There Ya Go, I Hot You're All Excited For Another Chapter! Because… It'll Probably Be Another Week Before I Update Again! … Sorry? XD**

 **Oh, & Before I Forget, I'm Looking For Someone, ANYONE, Who Would Be Willing To Draw, Paint, Mold, Or Whatever, A Picture For This Story. I'd Like It To Be Of The Fortress That Hiccup's Living On, Maybe Something Like The Arial View Hiccup Drew Of It In His Notebook, Or Something Like That. I Would Be VERY Grateful To Anyone Who Would Like To Do That For Me. They Might Even Get Their Own OC! Just A Thought ;D **


	3. The Trading Post

**A/N~ Hey Everyone, Sorry It Took So Long, The Charger On My Computer Broke, So I Wasn't Even Able To Write! It Was TERRIBLE! But Here's The Next Chapter! I Hope You Like It! XD**

* * *

 **Warning: Nothing Much In This Chapter That Needs Warning, But Hiccup Meets New People In This Chapter, A Lot Of Description On The Place He Finds, But I Hope It Doesn't Get To Tedious, I'm Sometimes Known As The Queen Of Details, Which Can Sometimes Be A Bad Thing. XP**

 **Disclaimer: Nope, Sorry Everyone, I Don't Own HTTYD, But If I Did, I'd Give Everyone Who Reviewed This A Copy Of Both Movies, & Every Episode Of The Shows For Free! **

* * *

**Ch. 3**

 **The Trading Post**

 **~5,657~**

* * *

The sun was setting as Hiccup and Toothless finished setting up their home. They'd eaten a breakfast of fish and berries before setting to work. They'd chopped down some trees, Hiccup finding the best ones for building things they needed: tables, chairs, shelves, doors, and a bed, and Toothless would knock them down and drag them back to the waterfall, which they had decided was going to be the area they called their home. The first thing Hiccup had made was a door, using tall and skinny trees, cutting them in half before binding them together with some rope he made. He did this until the trees made a wide enough plank that would fit across the door. It took a little maneuvering, but they finally got the door into place, though Hiccup did find it a bit difficult to open and close, it being so heavy, Hiccup decided to leave it open unless they were going to sleep. He decided not to make one for the other opening in the cave. He would make a better one once he had better materials, but for now, this would do.

They had lunch, because making the door took nearly half the day. They had fish again, and ate more of the berries Hiccup had brought, though Hiccup decided to burry the last few dozen along one edge of the forest that surrounded their new home. _Might as well keep the food close._ Hiccup thought as Toothless dug small holes for them to plant the berries in.

The next thing Hiccup decided to make was a bed for himself. Toothless had dragged in a large rock for himself to sleep on, scalding the top to make it warm for him to lay on while Hiccup worked. It took the rest of the day for Hiccup to finish his small bed. It was the perfect size for him, unlike his bed back on Berk, which could easily fit Toothless. Stoic had hoped that he'd go through a growth spurt at some point, but was disappointed once again.

Toothless had caught a small boar while Hiccup was figuring out where to put his bed in their cavern. They roasted the boar over a fire, which Toothless lit; the blue flame of a Night Fury gave the charred meat an electric flavor, one that was, in fact, quite delicious. They ended up falling asleep in front of the fire just outside of the cavern next to the waterfall. They had fish for breakfast again before Hiccup made a table, a chair, a bedside table and a several small shelves, all of which, were of very good quality.

Hiccup, deciding that they needed to section off the cave, made curtain holders and, using Toothless, put them on the ceiling, though they didn't have the material to make curtains at the moment. They arranged the beds, a shelf, and the small table off to the far left corner, dubbing it the bedroom, and moved the table, chair and the rest of the shelves to the opposite corner, making that the kitchen. He'd make bigger shelves and other things later, once he had more stuff. He put all the things he brought away, his favorite pillow in his room, the tools he'd nicked from the forge on one of the shelves in the kitchen. The place was starting to look like a home and Hiccup was proud of his work.

He was so proud in fact, he decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and go swimming with Toothless. They both made it to the rock in the middle of the lake and rested there for a while before swimming back, missing lunch entirely. The rest of the evening was quiet as Toothless and Hiccup relaxed, watering the berries and frying more fish for dinner. They slept inside this time, on their respective beds, which were right next to each other.

The next day, Hiccup decided he wanted to explore the islands around The Fortress, to see if there were any trading posts nearby or islands with villages he could sell his stuff or buys things he may need. They ate breakfast, some fruit they found on a small nearby island, which Hiccup dubbed Fruit Island. They stayed there for awhile and sampled the different fruits. Hiccup found that he rather liked the meat of the mangos and the pineapples, though the skin of the mangos was slightly bitter and the skin of the pineapples wasn't edible. After eating their fill they flew are for a few more hours.

There wasn't much, one more small island with a few dragons, but mostly other wild animals; deer, rabbits, boar, squirrel, and other smaller mammals. He named this island Animal Island. They headed back to The Fortress for the night, once again eating fish for dinner. The next day they decided to explore again, though it was more likely just an excuse to fly around in the beautiful weather. Despite the Freeze only a few weeks away, it was warm and cloudless, perfect for flying.

They flew for hours, zooming over Animal Island before heading West. About an hour and a half away from The Fortress, in the opposite direction of Berk, there was a rather large Trading Post. It was about half the size of Berk, very large for a Post, so Hiccup thought that it must be the central trading town of the area, the only other one Hiccup knew of was one a few days boat ride past Berk. That's how they usually were set up, a half a month or so boat ride apart. Hiccup was lucky this one was so close to The Fortress, or it would be hard to make a living.

Now that Hiccup knew he was close to a place he could get anything he needed, he just needed to figure out something to trade or sell. They flew back to The Fortress and Hiccup began looking through the stuff he had brought to sell, sure he had a few silver and copper coins, even one gold coin he'd gotten for a small set of hammers he'd once made on Berk, but he wanted to keep those for emergencies, or things that he couldn't trade for. Remembering the island they'd past full of rabbit, Hiccup decided it would probably just be easier to catch a few of them to trade, he'd even catch them lunch. Hiccup quickly fashioned a net out of some ferns and tree branches, and made half a dozen small crates to put the rabbit in once he caught them.

Then Hiccup realized that he had rather a big problem. He couldn't just ride Toothless to the island, they would be attacked. He'd need a boat. Cursing to himself, it would take at the LEAST a day and a half to make a small boat, one that would work good on the lake, and if he was going to transport half a dozen rabbits, he was going to need more than a small one person dingy. It would take him a few days to make a decent sized boat that was sea worthy, and probably even longer to make one that was sea worthy and able to hold all those rabbit. Hiccup sighed, resigned, and got to work.

It was a week later that Hiccup finally finished his boat, and if someone asked him, he would say it was one Hel of a boat. It was easily ten feet long and 5 feet wide in the middle. It was 5 feet deep and had a middle floor, making the bottom compartment to hold things. There was an area in the back that could be fashioned into a platform and there were holds in the sides of the railings that fit a longer poll that held a small roof made of tree branches and ferns to block out the sun or rain.

With the boat finished, and tested in the lake, Hiccup had Toothless put it in the sea, with it holding everything they needed to capture the rabbits, and they headed out to Rabbit Island to catch them selves something to trade.

The near two hours to Rabbit Island was nice, the sun was shining and when they'd realized that flying straight to Rabbit Island was faster if they didn't go to Dragon Island first, as it was a bit out of the way, saving them almost half an hour travel time. Hiccup set up similar traps as the first time they'd visited the island, only more. This time, they caught a staggering 14 rabbits. They had an early lunch, roasted rabbit, before putting the remaining 11 rabbits into the small crates and loaded them up in the boat, which had been dragged up onto the beach.

When they were close enough to the island to see the boats and buildings, near three hours later, Hiccup decided that Toothless should hide on one of the rocks that stuck out of the water that surrounded the Island. As they passed by a large rock, probably double the size of a house, Hiccup unhooked Toothless and the dragon landed on said rock. Hiccup climbed down the rock and onto the boat, pulling out the paddles.

"Be back in a bit Buddy." Hiccup swallowed as he started paddling towards the island. "This wont be so bad."

Hiccup heard Toothless growl after him, though it sounded more like a dragon version of a chuckle. Hiccup just hoped that no one asked any questions about someone as young as him traveling by himself. He'd thought up a story he could tell people if asked, but if they listened close enough, they could poke holes in his story. He also hoped that the people of this island wanted to buy or trade stuff for his rabbits, for if they didn't, he was screwed for today and he'd have to find something else to trade for.

It took him a good twenty minutes to row to the island docks. Once there, he was helped by a middle aged man named Grout. He was a large man, taller than Stoic the Vast, but not as fat, pure muscle. He had a large scar on one side of his face, it went from his hairline, just barely crossing over his left eyebrow, and down to his chin, cutting into his small, neat beard. He had wild back hair that if combed, would probably extend to just before his shoulders. He had bright blue eyes that stood out and probably glowed in the dark. Though he looked dangerous and imposing, he was nice, sarcastic, and straight forward, quite like Gobber and himself in attitude. Grout helped Hiccup dock his boat and unload his crates.

"'Ay there boy, need a hand?" Grout asked.

"Uh..." Hiccup didn't know if this was a trick or not. "I guess."

"No need ta be hesitant, I'm the dock keeper." Grout said, "Grouts da name, just Grout, no last name. Pleasure ta meet ya...?"

"Uh, Hiccup." Hiccup introduced, tossing the rope attached to the front of the boat to Grout. "Hiccup the Free."

Grout raised an eyebrow at the last name, but said nothing, and Hiccup already kinda liked this man, if only for the fact he didn't question him.

"Well, Hiccup the Free, what ya here for?" Grout asked, tying the rope to the dock. "Business or pleasure? Or a bit of both?" Grout waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and laughed as Hiccup blushed.

"B-business... definitely business." Hiccup stuttered, trying to keep his blush from spreading. "I-I've got some rabbits to sell or trade."

"Oh? We haven't had rabbits here in a long while. They'll sell like hotcakes." Grout told him.

"Really? That's great news!" Hiccup smiled, relieved he hadn't captured all those rabbits for no reason. "I've got quite a few to get rid of."

Grout helped Hiccup unload the 11 crates of rabbits from the boat to a small wheeled cart, of which there were many put off to the side for carrying goods from the docks to the trading stalls.

"Where is the, uh, trading area?" Hiccup asked, not quite sure where he should go or if he needed to get permission first. "Or do I need to talk to the chief first."

"You'll prolly need ta talk to the Advisor o' Trades." Grout said, looking at the rabbits. "It's at the Town Hall. I'll take ya."

"Really? You'd do that?" Hiccup asked, happy yet suspicious. "In exchange for what?"

"HAHAHAH! You're a smart one ain't ya?" Grout laughed. "Tell ya what? You give me one of those rabbits, and I'll let ya dock your boat, rent that cart, _and_ I'll take ya ta see the Advisor o' Trade."

"Really? That's all?" Hiccup asked surprised. "For just one rabbit?"

"Yeah, I like ya Hiccup, I think I'll be seeing you a lot in the up coming time." Grout smiled, offering his hand to shake.

"Then you've got yourself a deal Grout." Hiccup couldn't help but smile back as he took hold of Grout's hand and shook it firmly.

Hiccup gave Grout one of the rabbits, keeping the crate for himself, leaving him with an even 10 rabbits left. He waited while Grout put the rabbit in his hut on the other side of the docks. Once Grout came back, they headed toward a large hut that towered over the village with it's several floors: Town Hall. Hiccup had never seen anything like it. It must have had at least 5 levels. None of the buildings in Berk had more than 3 levels, and that's only if he counted the attics as a level.

Hiccup had never seen anything like it in all his 15 years, even in his visits to other villages with Stoic. The building's first floor was more like a barn; large double doors took up nearly the entire front wall and opened up to a large room with a dirt floor. There was a line of windows in the back and one to the left side, all of which had a person behind them. There were benches to the right side, all filled up with either vikings or goods. There were also quite a few vikings walking around holding crates or pulling small carts like the one Hiccup had, and there was someone at most of the windows getting help.

"Impressive ain't it?" Grout chuckled at the awestruck look on Hiccup's face as they entered the building.

"Yeah. I've never seen anything like it in all my travels." Hiccup said, whipping his head around, looking at everything he could.

"Then ya haven't traveled very far." Grout said. "All Trading Posts' Halls are structured the same."

"Well, I've only ever been to one other Trading Post, but we weren't there to trade our goods." Hiccup said, he remembered when he went with Stoic to talk to the Chief about getting some help against the dragons, Grout steered them toward the window off to the left.

"Then what were ya there for?" Grout asked curiously, what kind of people went to a Trading Post to NOT trade?

"..." Hiccup hesitated for a moment before quickly coming up with a lie. "We had money then, so we didn't bring anything to trade. We just bought a few things before leaving."

"...I see." Grout said, though Hiccup could tell that the man hadn't bought his lie, but he let it go for now. "Anyway, here we go."

"Grout! What brings me this pleasure?" The young woman behind the window asked with a laugh.

"Well hello my Darlin', good to see ya." Grout leaned against the window with a charming smile, obviously trying to charm the woman as she laughed.

She looked young, not as young as himself, but not as old as Grout, probably in her mid 20's. She had braided blond hair that reminded Hiccup of Astrids, but that's where their similarities ended. Instead of Astrid's soft features and small button nose, the woman had sharp cheek bones and a larger, rounded nose, but they worked together to compliment her beautiful green eyes, which were vastly different from Astrid's sky blue eyes. Her eyes were actually close to Hiccup's own emerald green, only slightly darker.

"Oh? And who's this with you?" The woman asked, looking at Hiccup with a critical eye, making Hiccup squirm.

"Um... Hi Miss. I'm Hiccup." Hiccup introduced himself, thrusting his hand out in front of him. "Hiccup the Free. Nice to meet you."

The woman eyed Hiccup's hand suspiciously before looking at Hiccup and seeing him blushing. She smiled and raised an eyebrow before taking the proffered hand and shaking it.

"Well, It's nice to meet you, Hiccup the Free." The woman said with a smile. "My name is Gabble Bulwark. I am in charge of inspecting goods and providing spaces for vendors to set up their trades. I'm guessing that is what Grout has brought you here for?"

"Yes Miss." Hiccup smiled in return.

"Please, call me Gabble, most everyone does." Gabble smiled brightly at him. "Now, lets see what you've got to trade."

Gabble stepped out from behind her window and walked toward the cart behind Hiccup. She opened up one of the crates and pulled out the rabbit and examined it.

"Is this all you have right now? Rabbits?" Gabble asked admiring the rabbit in her hand.

"For now, yes." Hiccup answered. "I'll probably bring other things another time. Is that a problem? Do rabbits not trade well? Grout mentioned they'd not had any in awhile. Am I only allowed to trade one thing?"

"Oh no, quite the opposite actually. Most people usually bring more than one thing to trade. Just incase something doesn't sell, they have other things to fall back on." Gabble commented, putting the rabbit back in the crate. "If it's just these rabbits, you'll do fine. Rabbits are pretty rare around here, Grout was right, we don't get them that often."

"Really? Why's that?" Hiccup asked, wondering if the Trading Post didn't know about the island of Rabbits just a few days away by boat, or hours by Night Fury.

"The islands to the North and the East, whom are our major traders, don't have the proper land to raise rabbits, not much grass grows there." Gabble answered as she made her way back behind her window. "Only when we get people from far away islands to the West do we get rabbits, and usually then it's only furs already made into gloves, shoes, or hats. We hardly ever get live rabbits. I think its been close to ten years since I saw a live rabbit."

"Then it seems I chose the right thing to bring haven't I?" Hiccup laughed at his luck. "What else does this island hardly ever see?"

"Well, we don't get much glass, though we can make that for ourselves fairly easy, but not much exotic foreign glass comes though, too fragile to travel I guess. And we don't see very many fruits. We'll get some apples or melons here or there, maybe twice a year or so, but that's about it." Gabble complained. "And I really like fruit too. Plus, it's always too expensive. Apples are 1 Silver a piece! Outrageous!"

Hiccup thought back to the island he'd found a few days ago while exploring. It had many different types of fruit, Apples, Banana, Melons, Pineapples, Mangos, and a few other's he couldn't remember the names of but had read about in a book once. He silently thanked the heavens for his good luck. If he could trade rabbits and fruit, something this Trading Post rarely saw, he would be able to get anything he needed.

"I think ya got this now, right Gabble?" Grout asked. "I gotta get back ta me docks."

"Yes, I've got this Grout." Gabble smiled. "Stop by anytime. It's always nice to see you."

"See ya later little Hiccup." Grout said playfully and patted Hiccup's head. "It was nice meetin' ya. I'll keep an eye on your boat for ya."

"It was nice meeting you too Grout." Hiccup smiled, despite being treated like a little kid, it was actually nice for a change rather than be treated like an outsider or a disappointment. "And thank you for everything!"

"Not a problem!" Grout yelled as he left.

"He's nice." Hiccup said.

"Sure is. A little cooky and flirtatious, but very nice." Gabble said with a smile. "Now, lets get you a stall."

Gabble pulled out a map that showed the Trading Area and all it's stalls.

"Lets see... Most are crossed out and very few are big enough to hold crates of animals." Gabble murmured to herself. "Will you be here for only a little while or are you going to be returning often?"

"I'll be returning. I just moved onto one of the near by small islands to the East," Hiccup half lied. "So I'll probably be here daily."

"Alright then." Gabble said, glancing over the map. "How do you feel about a medium sized stall?"

"How big is that? I'd like to be able to fit all of my crates inside." Hiccup asked.

"Well, the small stalls are for things like trinkets and jewelry, they're usually only about 5x5 feet, the medium stalls are usually for clothes and shoes and swords and things like that of great quantity. They're usually around 8x8 feet." Gabble explained. "And there are two sizes of large stalls. The smaller ones are usually for small animals like sheep and goats, and larger weapons or rugs or for venders whom also have large quantities of goods, those are 10x10 feet, while the larger ones are for large animals like cows, pigs, yak, and oxen, and they get to be as big as 15x15 feet and have a lot of space behind them with a small fenced in area for the animals."

"I think a medium stall will be perfect. I don't have much stuff right now anyway." Hiccup smiled.

"Right, I think I'll place you right here, pretty close to the middle, but not too far from the docks." Gabble said, crossing out an unmarked booth. "Now, I have to tell you, once a week we come to collect a payment for the use of the booths."

"How much is it?" Hiccup asked worried. "Do I pay in money or can traded items be used?"

"Usually it's in money, but we will take traded items. A small sized stall usually rents for 4 silver a week, a medium 8 silver and a small large is 12 silver, and the biggest large is 16 silver a week." Gabble told him. "But one rabbit would do for a week's worth of pay."

"Really? A rabbit is 8 silver, but that's almost 1 gold!" Hiccup asked astounded that a rabbit on berk was only 2 silver and here it was 4 times as much. "That's crazy!"

"Yes, well, rare items are rare items." Gabble shrugged. "And honestly, some rabbits go for even more, up to 12 silver depending on the breed and size. I remember a long, _long_ time ago, one even went for 15 silver. It was huge, probably the size of a small sheep with huge ears, easily a foot long. I think they called it a jack rabbit. I'd never seen such a thing before."

"W-wow." Hiccup stuttered. "15 silver for a rabbit. That would be insane!"

"Yes well, like I said, rare items are rare items, and we pay what they're worth to us. Now lets get you all set up." Gabble said, coming back around the window and shutting it and putting up a small sign that said: _**Be back in 20 minutes**_.

She led the way through the streets towards the trading area. The trading area split the town in two with a large road, stalls of all sizes on either side. There were people everywhere, pulling carts and animals alike. There were fine silks and clay works, weapons of all types and animals he'd only ever read about and never seen before, like goats and pigs, and something that looked a bit like a yak but with less hair, he thought it might be called a cow, but he couldn't be sure. Hiccup nearly tripped when he saw one stand that had a garment that had a few dragon scales on it.

"Pretty isn't it?" Gabble asked when she noticed what had caught Hiccup's attention. "It's not very often that that trader comes to town, but when he does, he always has at least one garment that has dragon scales one it. Rumor has it he travels to islands where dragons live and gather the scales that have fallen off of the dragons and takes them home. If it's true, he's one brave soul, stealing scales from dragons."

"You don't say." Hiccup murmured to himself, thinking that he'd have to talk to that man sometime, but not now, later.

"Here we are!" Gabble said as they reached a decent sized stall. "This will be your stall, you can make a sign if you want, to advertise what you're selling or trading. Some people only trade, while some only sell for copper, silver, or gold, I'd specify that too, if I were you."

"Thank you so much Gabble." Hiccup smiled up at the woman. "You've been a great help."

"Oh, I'm just doing my job." Gabble waved off his thank you. "Now, it's pretty late in the afternoon, but I think you'll do fine."

"I'll be sure to come earlier next time." Hiccup said, pulling the cart around the back of the stall, it fit perfectly behind the stall. "Thank you again and I'll be sure to visit with a gift."

"Oh you will do no such thing!" Gabble said as she walked away. "I shall see you later!"

"Bye!" Hiccup called back, as he was left alone in his stall to set up. "I'll have to make a sign later, for now I'll just put the crates where people can see them and advertise verbally."

Hiccup set up a few of the crate with rabbits in them on the counter and started yelling.

"RABBITS! RABBITS FOR SALE AND TRADE!" Hiccup yelled, though in the loud noise of the Trading area, it could barely be heard. "RABBITS! RABBITS!"

It was a good twenty minutes before someone noticed his stall and approached.

"Wha'ya sellin' laddie?" A short, round man with long, dirty hair, a sack on his back, and a large axe in his hand asked as he hobbled over.

"I've got rabbits for sale, I also take trades." Hiccup smiled, hoping he could sell a rabbit so soon.

"Rabbits?" The man asked, shocked as eyes widened. "How many do ya got?"

"I've got ten with me right now." Hiccup answered politely. "If you're buying with silver, they're 7 silver each."

"And what will you take for a trade?" The man asked, squinting to look in his small moneybag.

"Well, what have you got to trade? I'm sure we can make a deal." Hiccup smiled, getting a bit excited. "And I'm willing to go down a bit in price. I'm also willing to trade for something less than a rabbit if you have money to compensate for it. I'm flexible."

The man's eyes widened again, obviously not used to people deviating from price or mixing it up like Hiccup was. The man reached in to his sack and pulled out a large piece of folded cloth, Hiccup thought it could easily be ten feet long and 15 feet wide, of moderate quality. Hiccup instantly thought of the curtains he wanted to make to separate the rooms in his cave and figured the cloth would be a perfect start.

"I have this cloth which cost me 8 silver and 11 silver pieces." The man said, a little nervous he didn't have the exact amount.

"I can give you three Rabbits for that." Hiccup said, smiling as the man put the coins on the counter with the the cloth.

"I'll take them." The man said, looking very happy.

Hiccup grabbed up the coins, counted them before putting them in his money pouch and taking the cloth to examine it more closely, finding it was both bigger and of better quality than he originally thought, and putting it in the cart. He dragged out three rabbits and gave them to the man, whom put them in his bag.

"Thank you young man." The man said. "It has been a long time since I've had rabbit and the pelts will make wonderful gloves."

"No, thank you Sir." Hiccup replied. "That cloth will come in handy. Please come again."

The man walked away, and now that Hiccup had sold to one customer, it seemed more people noticed his stall. He quickly sold the rest of his rabbits. One to an elderly couple whom had said that they'd had rabbit on their first date, he'd traded them for a pair of very well made leather gloves with sheep skin lining the inside.

He'd traded 2 rabbits to a shepherd for 2 of his sheep, and sold another to a woman for 7 silver. He's traded the last 3 to a farmer for a small crate of oxen meat. The man whom traded him the meat told him that if he had any more rabbits, he'd gladly trade one of his oxen for 6 of them. Hiccup said he'd be happy to do that trade if the farmer was there tomorrow, they'd set the date.

Hiccup looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He'd been there for just over 3 hours and he'd gotten rid of all ten of his rabbits and he'd gotten quite a score. He packed up all his trades into the small crates that had held the rabbits and loaded them into the cart, which he then pulled back to the docks, it was quite a ways to the docks, probably half a mile, and half an hours walk pulling the cart. He was happy to do it though, the cart wasn't _that_ heavy, even with all the stuff in it. Hiccup was pretty strong compared to his relatively small size. His legs were very strong from running away from people and dragons, and his arms were small but well muscled from working in Gobber's forge for the last 5 or so years, so pulling the cart wasn't that hard. When Hiccup got back to the docks, Grout was there to help him load his stuff back into his boat.

"Got a good score I see." Grout smiled as he handed Hiccup one of the sheep. "Got rid of them all did ya?"

"Yep, every last one too." Hiccup said excitedly. "Once one person stopped at my stall, more and more did. And this stuff will come in handy! I've been eating nothing but fish and rabbits for awhile now, I can't wait to eat that oxen meat."

"Well, I'm having rabbit tonight and I'd be happy to take some of that oxen meat off your hands for you." Grout joked. "But I have to say, you did very well for your first day, and it wasn't even a full one at that."

"I know, I'll have to bring more next time." Hiccup smiled. "By the way, how much is it to dock here and rent a cart?"

"Well, normally to dock for a whole day it's 5 silver and to rent a cart for the whole day it's 4 silver." Grout said. "But considering you weren't here for the whole day, I charged you a discounted price."

"Sweet. I'll bring you a rabbit next time too." Hiccup said happily as they loaded the last bit of stuff into the boat. "Bye! See you tomorrow!"

"Oh Hiccup, if you'd like, you can rent a space, one of the spots here so you don't have to worry about not getting a spot to put your boat." Grout told him. "It's only 15 Silver, or two of those rabbits for a month. The same for a cart. For 10 Silver a month I can set one a side for you."

"Really? You can do that?" Hiccup asked with a smile. "Sure, that sounds great! Here!"

Hiccup dug into his money pouch and dug out 10 Silver coins and handed them to Grout.

"I'll bring you two rabbits tomorrow for the dock spot." Hiccup told him, and getting a nod he got into his boat. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yep." Grout smiled and untied him from the dock and tossed him the rope. He grabbed another rope and a wood sign and carved _Hiccup the Free_ into the wood and tied it to the rope, and then put it across the spot Hiccup had just left.

Hiccup rowed out to the rock that he'd left Toothless at and when he didn't see him he whistled. Toothless came from behind the rock and started whining happily at seeing Hiccup.

"Hey Bud!" Hiccup said as he tossed the rope to Toothless, who caught it and pulled the boat closer to the rock so Hiccup could climb out. "Got rid of every rabbit Toothless, I even got dinner for us tonight!"

Toothless grumbled happily, eyeing the sheep who baa'd at him.

"No, not the sheep Toothless, they're here for their wool." Hiccup laughed. "No, I got some oxen meat."

Toothless wasn't sure what that was, but was excited at the word meat.

"Come on Bud, lets go home." Hiccup said, hopping onto Toothless's back and tying the rope tied to the boat to Toothless's saddle and they flew home. Hiccup was happy he had a place that he could both call home and that felt like home. And he lived with his best friend, life couldn't get any better.

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 **E/N~ So? What Do You Guys Think? I Know It Was Mostly A Filler Chapter, But Hiccup Had To Find The Post Somewhere, But Don't Worry, Time's Going To Start Speeding Up & There'll Be A Few Major Time Skips In The Next Few Chapters To Get Things Moving. XD**

 **Also, I Have A Pole Up On My Profile, It Pertains To This Story, So If You All Could Check It Out & Vote On It, I'd Be Very Grateful! XD **


	4. The Price Of Scales

**A/N~ Okay, Hey Everyone! Sorry This Took So Long To Get Out. I've Been Having A Few Problems With Writing Not A Pet! Ch.5. I Need To Re-Watch Some Episodes Of The TV Show, & I Normally Do That On Netflix, But For Some Reason It's Not Working For Me. *Sigh* I've Seriously Had Terrible Luck With Electronics Lately. I'm Trying To Get It Fixed, & I Know I Can Watch Them Other Places Online, But I Prefer Netflix. If I Can't Get It Fixed In The Next Few Weeks, I'll Write A Different Character Instead Of Alvin. **

**ANYWAY! Here's The Next Chapter Of This Story! I Don't Need Netflix For This. XD**

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 **Disclaimer: I Only Own The OCs! & To Those Who Guessed That The Scaled Glove Would Be Something, You Were Right! It's Not Too Big Of A Deal Now, Despite This Chapter, But In A Few Chapters It'll Really Catch Up To Hiccup. XD **

**Warning: Hiccup Being A Total Bad Ass & Losing His Temper(NOT Like In Not A Pet! But He's Still Pretty Awesome). More OC's, Get To Know Them, Like Them, Love Them, Because They Will Be Here To Stay, & More Too Come Too. X3 **

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**Ch. 4**

 **The Price Of Scales**

 **~6,613~**

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" _Hey Bud!" Hiccup said as he tossed the rope to Toothless, who caught it and pulled the boat closer to the rock so Hiccup could climb out. "Got rid of every rabbit Toothless, I even got dinner for us tonight!"_

 _Toothless grumbled happily, eyeing the sheep who baa'd at him._

" _No, not the sheep Toothless, they're here for their wool." Hiccup laughed. "No, I got some oxen meat."_

 _Toothless wasn't sure what that was, but was excited at the word meat._

" _Come on Bud, lets go home." Hiccup said, hopping onto Toothless's back and tying the rope tied to the boat to Toothless's saddle and they flew home. Hiccup was happy he had a place that he could both call home and that felt like home. And he lived with his best friend, life couldn't get any better._

For the next few weeks Hiccup had a great time, catching rabbits and selling or trading them. At some point, a few days after his first day, he decided that selling fruits would be good too. He picked crate after crate of fruit with Toothless's help. Toothless would jump through the trees, knocking branches, and Hiccup would catch the fruit and put it into the crates. Hiccup's reflexes grew quickly, if only so the fruit wouldn't splat on the ground. Within twenty minutes, he had half a dozen crates, each with a different type of fruit. He got rid of every last one. He sold them for 5 Copper coins each, or a dozen for 5 Silver coins, he would also sell half a dozen for 3 Silver. People flocked to his stall, buying or trading for his rabbits and fruit. He always sold out.

Hiccup had made fast friends with the stalls around him, trading his fruit and rabbits for their goods. The stall to his left had been empty that first day he was there, though clearly used often by its wear and tear, it was unmanned and empty of goods, probably gone for the day. A young teen, a year older than Hiccup himself, whose name was Adlis Stryson, sold an assortment of knives and daggers along with wood carving he'd made. He took requests for carvings and could make them any size. His family lived on the island, but farther away from the village and in the forest, where he got the wood for his carvings. Hiccup had traded him a rabbit for one of his 3 piece knife sets, and as a black smith himself, he commented on how well the craftsmanship was.

Him and Hiccup had become instant friends. Adlis wasn't like the teen Vikings on Berk, he was more mature and nice, but he could still be sneaky and mischievous, and Hiccup liked that about him. He had black hair, like most of the Vikings on the Trading Post, though he kept it cut short and he didn't let his scruff get past stubble. He had said he didn't want a beard, that they were itchy and got in the way.

He was a little bigger than Hiccup, quite a few inches taller, but his arms were probably twice the size of Hiccup's. Adlis said it was from cutting down trees to make his carvings, but Hiccup thought it was probably that plus the fact that the boy also dragged the trees back to his house, seeing as Adlis told him that he didn't have a cart and had to carry everything by himself. Adlis had a younger sister, Katla, who was only 12 and lived at home with their mother, Asleif. Hiccup was surprised to hear that the woman was the blacksmith who made most of the knives he sold, seeing as there were no female blacksmiths on Berk and Hiccup had never heard of them before. He was impressed. Adlis told him that their father had died when Adlis was 5, though Adlis wouldn't say how he had died, only that he didn't like heights and since then he had to take care of the family.

Hiccup shared the story of how his mother was taken by dragons when he was only 1 year old, and how his father became distant and it was like losing both parents. Hiccup kept his opinions of dragons firmly under wraps and didn't tell him what village he was from, only that he now lived on his own after running away from the village that shunned him and tried to make him something he wasn't. They became close over the weeks and Hiccup even considered inviting Adlis to meet Toothless, but first he needed to figure out the boys views on dragons. He didn't want to ruin anything, especially since he just got comfortable.

The stall to his right was rented by an elderly couple who sold knitted scarves, mittens, blankets, pillows, dolls and other small things of the likes. Hiccup traded a rabbit and a dozen assorted fruits for two pillows, a blanket, and a custom scarf that was 4 times as long as a normal scarf and was dark midnight blue with spots of bright green dotted about. He wanted to give it to Toothless as a present, and he needed it to be long enough to fit around the Night Fury. The couple had asked who such a large scarf was for, but Hiccup just told them a very big friend. The couple had a knowing look in their eyes, and Hiccup wondered how old they were and how much they had seen in their lives. He thanked them profusely and when they got back to The Fortress, he surprised Toothless with it. Toothless was so grateful he nearly burnt it up with one of his blue plasma bolts.

It was 3 weeks later when the Freeze came. The oceans filled with ice chunks and snow blanketed everything. The trees either lost their leaves or held the snow on their needles and all the animals hid in their dens or holes. All that is, except those on The Fortress. Those on The Fortress had nothing to worry about. Snow in the morning would be melted by noon and it never got cold enough for the lake to freeze over. But by the time the Freeze came, Hiccup had a good little garden going, and had brought rabbits from Rabbit Island to The Fortress and had them kept in a well built pen he'd made. He kept half a dozen and by then two were pregnant and were soon going to have babies and more rabbits to sell. That was a good thing about rabbits, if you had two, then you would eventually have more, and they reproduced like wildfire. Hiccup had also taken some of the fruit and planted them around his little clearing like he did with the berries, which were now small plants, not quite ready to produce berries, but they would be in a few months. The fruit would take a lot longer, but Hiccup was in for the long run and planned to stay at The Fortress for as long as possible.

He had a small corral for the sheep he'd acquired, 10 now, along with 4 goats, and 2 oxen, and don't ask how he got those giant things back to The Fortress on his boat, he wouldn't tell you if you begged him. He could make milk and cheese to sell if he wanted to, because if a customer's going to be coming to your stall to buy fruits and rabbits, why not buy your milk and cheese there too? But he didn't want to step on anyone's toes, and he didn't want to alienate himself, even if he could make twice as much money as he was now, he didn't need it. He was one of the most successful vendors on the island as it was, and he wasn't greedy. He always sold out of his rare goods and gave discounts for trades and for those who couldn't pay he allowed them to help him in the stall and closing up. He would probably never need the diamonds, they were now just part of his walls. He became one of the best known vendors and one of the most mysterious.

 _Hiccup the Free_ whom no one knew about: where he came from, where he took his goods, where he lived? They knew nothing. Only Adlis knew anything about him, and that was even minuscule. But Hiccup's mysterious persona was also a driving factor in his success, everyone came and bought something from him and chatted with him, they learned small things about him, like the fact that he'd gotten the scar on his chin from a dragon when he was a baby, or that he lived on his own. Few knew the story of his mother being taken by dragons and that his father practically abandoned him, and many wondered how Hiccup had survived, he was so small after all. It was eventually learned that Hiccup was from up North, they didn't know a specific island, but they guessed not from one of their regular traders, or Hiccup would have been recognized by someone. They guessed from the East more than the West because to the West was the Romans and the East was more Vikings, and obviously the boy wasn't a Roman. They really began to wonder how he'd survived the Freeze up there.

 _The Freeze down here isn't so bad_ , Hiccup thought as he set up his stall one late morning a month into the Freeze, though he knew it was nothing compared to what Berk felt during the Freeze. Berk was farther North than the Trading Post or The Fortress, and up north it got far, far colder. And because Berk was one of the largest islands to the East, it caught all the storms, and that made living there even worse. Hiccup even wondered how he had survived some of the worst Freezes that nearly froze the sheep to the ground. Anyone with any sense would move from the hazardous island, but the Vikings of Berk were anything but sensible.

Hiccup was humming his good luck as he finished the first sale of the day, 2 rabbits and half a dozen fruit. Hiccup was happy, he'd never been this happy. He'd made 10 silver and some forging tools. He'd been wanting to set up a forge at home, but hadn't gotten around to it. He'd _accidentally_ let slip a few days ago his plans to build a forge and would give discounts for forge tools, and since then he'd gotten half a dozen forge tools, metals to make things out of, an anvil, and a few other items. He just needed a few more things before he could set the forge up. He needed some tongs, a water basin, and some coals, maybe some expert molds, but he preferred shaping things himself, it gave each piece a distinct personality. And he needed to finish the forge soon, Toothless's tail was starting to wear and tear.

The day went by quickly and he ran out of goods by the time it was 4:30. Hiccup packed up his stuff in his cart and wheeled it down to the docks. He'd noticed that no matter how full his cart was, it never seemed to heavy for him, he guessed he was getting stronger than he realized. He loaded his goods into his boat and took the cart back into the Trading Area to get the last few things he needed. He bought a decent sized water basin and a few sets of tongs, some coals, and because he felt he might need one, he bought a few molds. Spending only half the day's Silver income, Hiccup decided to look around at some of the other booths. There were many booths selling similar things: such as clothes, boots, sandals, swords, axes, cloth, blankets, gloves. All the same things, but different, personalized by each vendor to look different, trying to catch the eyes of customers.

Hiccup walked around for a while before he saw the same vendor he'd seen on his first day. The man whom had the clothes with dragon scales. He walked up to the stall and looked around, he found a pair of gloves with 5 perfectly place dragon scales covering the knuckles. The inside was soft to the touch, it wouldn't irritate the skin but it would also keep the hands warm. The dark leather was perfectly cured and stitched together. The scales were dark brown, and Hiccup thought maybe a Gronkle's scales. Hiccup admired the gloves, they were amazing quality and he wanted a pair, but they were far to big for him. He hoped the man would make him a custom pair.

"Excuse me?" Hiccup called out, hoping to find the merchant of the stall. "Excuse me? I have a question? Are you back there?"

Suddenly a man appeared from behind the counter. He was older, not Stoic or Gobber's age, but definitely older than Hiccup, even older than Gabble, but probably close to Grout's age, somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. He wore a dark cloak that covered up his blue tunic and black pants. The hood of the cloak was pulled down and the man had long blond hair and stunning blue eyes, a soft face and a mole just underneath his left eye. His eyes, though stunning blue, were glaring at him as if Hiccup had stolen something from him.

"What can Iz getz youz?" The man spat out, his words heavily accented, it was clear he was roman, and Norse was not his first language.

"Uh... Oh, um, I was wondering if you could make me a custom pair of these gloves with dragon scales?" Hiccup asked, trying not to be insulted by the man's sneer.

"Iz can. But it be expenzive." The man smirked, thinking that it would be too rich for Hiccup's blood. "At leaz 6 gold each. Prollry more."

"Price is no matter. But I was wondering if you could do the gloves full of dragon scales for me instead of just the knuckles?" Hiccup asked.

"A full glovez?" The man asked surprised, before turning angry. "Doz you knowz how long it be taking to getz simply thoze few zcalez? MONTZ! It would be taking yearzes for full glovez."

"Actually, I was hoping you could use some scales that I have." Hiccup said through gritted teeth. "I've been collecting scales for a while and I think I have enough for a pair of gloves."

"Youz?" The man sneered, looking as if he wanted to laugh at the thought of this BOY being able to get more scales than him. "Ridiculuz! No wayz iz it pozible for youz, a _child_ , to have zat many zcalzez."

By now a few other people were listening in on their conversation. Since the blond man kept screaming, it was attracting quite a bit of attention.

"If you can't do it, then just say so." Hiccup growled, trying to keep his patience with the Foreigner, but it was starting to slip.

"CAN'T DOZ IT?" The man screamed in outrage. "OF COURZE I CAN DOZ IT! BUT YOUZ DOZ NOT HAVE ZAT MANY ZCALZEZ! DOZ NOT SPEAK THEZE LIEZ TO ME CHILD!"

Hiccup could hear people around them muttering and Hiccup clenched his fists and grit his teeth hard. He heard Grout, Gabble, and Adlis come to stand behind him. He could hear Adlis telling Hiccup to ignore that crazy Roman, and Grout telling him not to let the vendor get under his skin. Gabble stayed quiet, a solid moral support that was very much welcome, but none of it could hold in Hiccup's temper and he exploded.

"LISTEN HERE YOU BLOND HAIRED, BLUE EYED BIMBO!" Hiccup yelled, stepping forward and grabbing the man by the front of his cloak, startling not only the man, but everyone else too. "I HAVE THE SCALES! YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN'T TO IT BECAUSE I SAID I'D BE WILLING TO PAY MORE THAN 6 GOLD FOR IT! BUT CLEARLY YOUR WORKMANSHIP ISN'T WORTH THAT! YOU TWO BIT NEANDERTHAL!"

Everything was quiet, the only sound was Hiccup's panting as he glared at the man still in his grip. Said man was glaring right back at him. Hiccup growled again and pushed the man away and turned around, heading for his cart that he'd left next to the stall. Just as he'd grabbed it the man called out.

"If youz really haz the zcalzez, zen bringz zem tomorrow." The man said, straitening his cloak out and standing tall. "If youz bringz zem, zen Iz am having no prolemz making youz dragonz zcaled glovez. Full glovez."

Hiccup snorted but nodded. "I'll bring them, just make sure you show up."

The man glared at Hiccup but turned away at Hiccup's glare, and Hiccup smirked in the small victory and pulled his cart back towards the docks. His 3 friends following behind him.

"Holy Thor!" Adlis remarked once they were a ways away from the vendor. "I've never seen you get than angry before! Even when that one guy tried to steel your rabbits!"

"Yeah, well, he pushed all the right buttons by saying all the wrong things." Hiccup huffed, trying to calm down.

"What exactly set you off dear?" Gabble asked.

"He called me a child and a liar."

"Well, I'll never call you either!" Grout said. "I never want to see that scary Hiccup again."

"Sorry, did I really scare you?" Hiccup asked, worried that he'd scare away his first friend on the island.

"Well, yeah! You're terrifying when you're angry!" Grout said throwing his hand up in the air. "I'm so glad that I'm your friend!"

Hiccup blinked for a second before relaxing in relief. He hadn't scared away one of his friends.

"Yeah, now if I'm ever in trouble, I'll know who to come get." Adlis joked, and Hiccup smiled.

"Yeah, then your enemies can laugh themselves into submission." Hiccup joked back.

"Nuh uh!" Adlis shook his head. "That was down right terrifying! And a LOT of people saw you rip that guy a new one just then! They'll all think twice about messing with you from now on Hic."

"By the way Hiccup," Gabble began, "what is a bimbo anyway?"

Hiccup blushed and this got the attention of all three of them. They were all curious as to what he'd called the man.

"Uh... um well..." Hiccup stuttered as his blush increased. "A bimbo is kinda like a uh... um... a whore."

They stopped for a second and just stared at the blushing teen before bursting out laughing.

Hiccup didn't think it was possible for his blush to get any redder. He hurried on to the docks, his friends still laughing as they followed.

"I-I can't believe you called him a whore!" Adlis laughed, tears running down his face.

"Seriously!" Grout laughed, "In front of the whole Trading Area too!"

"I doubt he even knew what he was being called either!" Gabble said as she started to control, her laughing.

"It's not that funny." Hiccup said, stopping in front of his boat.

"It really is Hiccup." Gabble said, but then gave him a look. "And you really shouldn't scream that kind of language."

"OH NO!" Adlis screeched. "IT'S MOTHER GABBLE! RUN HIC! RUN!"

Grout, who had finally started to calm himself down burst out laughing again, Adlis joining him as they reached the docks and Hiccup's boat.

"OH SHUSH YOU TWO!" Gabble yelled at them.

Hiccup chuckled as he put the forge equipment in the boat and stored the cart. It had his name on it, as did the dock spot, a rabbit and some fruit each month kept it that way. The same with his payment for his stall, a rabbit each week and a piece of fruit to Gabble, she really liked mangos and oranges.

"Well, I'm going home guys." Hiccup said, his anger now completely gone.

"And where is home exactly?" Adlis asked, he usually asked this question once a week if not more, but never got a reply. "And how are you going to get dragon scales?"

"I've got them already." Hiccup chuckled, ignoring Adlis' other question, the teen was always trying to learn more about Hiccup's home life.

"How exactly do you just have dragon scales hanging around?" Grout asked curiously.

"..." Hiccup hesitated for a second before sighing. "I might tell you guys, depending on how tomorrow goes. Deal?"

"Deal." All three of them said together, not wanting to miss the chance to find out something about their mysterious friend.

"All right, I'll see you tomorrow."

Once Hiccup got back to The Fortress and put everything away, he went straight to his room, and grabbed a small leather bag. He dumped it out on his bed. There were easily 200 of Toothless's scales. He'd found that dragons shed scales like wolves shed fur, year round and in clumps. Right now, from his recent shed of about 50 scales, Toothless was scaleless on the base of his tale and up a little bit of his back. He'd shed before, but Hiccup had never thought to keep the scales until he saw that garment with the dragon scales on it. Hiccup wanted an entire outfit made of Toothless's scales. It would make him blend in with Toothless and the night sky so much better than his green and brown fur outfits. Plus he would be fire proof and resistant to most weapons. Hiccup wanted a cloak, a tunic, trousers, boots, a scarf he could cover his face with, and gloves. He was starting with the gloves because he knew it would be the easiest. He would show that man tomorrow.

The next day, Hiccup woke up with the sun, instead of rolling over for an extra few hours of sleep. He wanted to get to the Trading Post early, when not many were there just yet. They flew to Rabbit Island, caught a dozen rabbits and headed out to Fruit Island, picked their lot of fruit and headed to the Post. They got there just before 10am and he and Grout took his things to his stall before he grabbed his bag full of scales and making his way to the Foreigners' stall. Adlis was already at his stall when Hiccup arrived and decided to follow him. Gabble was there too, Grout having gotten her after he helped Hiccup unload his boat. All three were eager to see what would happen with their friend and the Foreigner.

The man was already at his stall, and Hiccup thought that he might have slept in his stall last night, which gave Hiccup a swell of smugness. The crowd was back, the same vendors and shoppers as yesterday ignored their stalls to watch and listen to the interaction between their two mysterious vendors.

"I zee you haz come." The man said, dignified far less hostile than the day before. "Letz zee zem zen. Zeze zcalez youz haz plenty of."

Hiccup pulled out his bag and laid it sideways on the table before slowly pulling it to the side so the scales could pour out in a line. The man's eyes widened as he saw the amount of scales. Toothless's scales were a bit bigger than the ones that the glove the previous day had, and he hoped that didn't matter, but right now Hiccup pushed his thoughts aside and decidedly felt much more smug than before as he watched the shocked look on the man's face.

"How-how did youz come by zeze?" The man asked, his eyes wide.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Hiccup replied and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I doz not take or work wiz murdered dragonz zcalzez." The man hissed.

Hiccup noticed that everyone was shifting uncomfortably, though if it was at the thought of the man liking dragons or at the thought of him killing a dragon for its scales Hiccup wasn't sure.

"I'm not a murderer. I didn't kill the dragon for its scales." Hiccup growled, not liking the accusation being thrown at him. "The dragon lives, if not a bit annoyed at shedding."

"Ze dragon, willingly gave youz ze zcalzez?" The man asked, suspicious.

"Once a dragon sheds its scales, they don't care about them." Hiccup told the man. "So yes, he gave me the scales willingly."

"I zee." The man said, scratching his chin in thought. "I'll doz itz."

"G-great!" Hiccup said, happy and a bit surprised that the man had agreed so easily. "How much will it be?"

"10 Zcalzez for each glovez." The man said, causing Hiccup to blink.

"W-what?" Hiccup asked, confused.

"Iz be wanting 10 zcalzez for each glovez." The man said, pushing back into the bag. "20 zcalzez in all."

"That's it?" Hiccup asked.

"Zat'z it? ZAT'Z IT?" The man stared at Hiccup wide eyed again. "Do you knowz ze cozt of dragonz zcalzez? 1 gold each! And if youz zearch for zem youzelf, it take many montz to find."

"Wow, I had no idea. Maybe I'll sell the scales in my stall." Hiccup thought out loud.

"Noz, whatever zcalzez youz be having, I willz be buying." The man said.

"Actually, I was wondering if I brought you enough scales, could you make any garment covered in scales?"

The man blinked at Hiccup for a second before nodding.

"I haz made bootzez, cloakzez, trouzez, glovzez, tuniczez, hatez, wrizbandzez, necklazez, and anyzingz youz can be zinking of." The man said, a smile gracing his face for the first time at the prospect of making such items completely covered in dragon scales. "If youzez be providing ze zcalzez, I will be happyz to be making anyzing youz wantz."

"That's fantastic!" Hiccup smiled. "Just the gloves for now though, I don't think I'll have the scales for all that I want for a while."

"Zat iz fine." The man said, reaching out his hand. "Iz be Ivan."

"Well, Ivan, nice to meet you, I'm Hiccup." Hiccup said, shaking the mans hand with a smile. "I think, despite our rocky start, we are going to be doing a lot of business together."

"Iz be looking forward to itz." Ivan smiled back and quickly got to work, grabbing the bag of scales. "Itz be taking a weekz or twoz."

"That's fine. Take your time. I want your best work." Hiccup nodded.

"Of corze." The man said before turning around and taking the scales into the back of his stall.

Hiccup smiled and turned around, only to stop at the sight of everyone who had been listening to him staring at him wide eyed.

"W-what?" Hiccup stuttered, not liking that he was the center of attention.

Everyone turned their eyes away and went back to their stalls or shopping, everyone except for the 3 standing right in front of him.

"Hiccup, how did you get Night Fury scales?" Gabble asked, her eyes only slightly less wide as everyone else.

"What? How did you know they were Night Fury scales?" Hiccup asked shocked.

"That doesn't matter, how do you have so many?" Grout asked, serious.

"I-I told Ivan." Hiccup stuttered. "When a dragon sheds, he doesn't care what happens to his scales, and the Night Fury gave them to me."

"And where exactly did you find this Night Fury?" Adlis butt in. "And why would he just give you, a Viking, his scales?"

"Uh..." Hiccup wasn't sure how he got into this mess, he just wanted a pair of dragon scaled gloves. "I-I need to get to my stall."

Hiccup ran off before any of them could protest. He got to his stall and began setting up. By the time Adlis got to his stall, Hiccup was already dealing with customers and Adlis didn't get the chance ask Hiccup anything for a while. It wasn't until 3:00, when there was a lull in customers, that Adlis finally got a chance to talk to Hiccup.

"Hic, we need to talk. Come on man. I'm not angry or anything!" Adlis called out to his friend. "Where did you find a Night Fury? And why didn't you kill it?"

Hiccup heard Adlis talking to him, but ignored him in favor of thinking up a way to get himself out of this mess. But something in Adlis' tone caught his attention. He didn't sound disgusted that he didn't kill Toothless and, in fact, he sounded relieved and... proud? He was definitely curious as to why he hadn't killed Toothless. He turned to look at Adlis, who smiled at finally being acknowledged.

"What's your opinions on dragons?" Hiccup asked suddenly.

"I haven't seen many." Adlis said, blinking at the sudden question. "But they're pretty cool actually."

"What about the island's opinions?" Hiccup asked shyly.

"I think most are pretty tolerant." Adlis shrugged. "There aren't many dragons around here, so it doesn't come up much. Since we don't get raided by the dragons like the North Eastern islands some people live with small dragons as pets, though not many. Only the brave ones. But they aren't seen in town or in the Trading Area because we get dragon hating Vikings every now and then. Plus, you know, the Romans."

Hiccup blinked and took a second to let that sink in, before a huge smiled over took his face.

"Really? Really?" Hiccup was so excited that he could barely contain himself. "This place is dragon friendly? That's awesome!"

Hiccup had been so worried because he hadn't seen a single dragon on or around the Trading Post since he'd arrived, but now that he knew the place dragon friendly, he was extremely happy and thanking the gods for his luck.

"Are you going to answer my questions now?" Adlis asked, excited simply because Hiccup was excited.

"Later, I'll tell you everything later. After we finish up here." Hiccup said happily. "Along with Grout and Gabble. I'll explain everything."

It was a few hours later when Hiccup sold out of goods. He packed his stuff up in his cart, a bit anxious about what he was planning, but he knew he needed to go through with it. As he packed up, Adlis closed up his shop, he didn't need to worry about making more money, ever since Hiccup set up shop next to him, he'd had more customers in one day than he normally did in a week. Taking his supplies and telling Hiccup he'd meet him at the docks, they split up. Hiccup took his time making his way to the docks, stopping off at the Town Hall to see Gabble.

"Uh... H-hey Gabble." Hiccup stuttered as a greeting.

"Hiccup." Gabble nodded in return. "What do I owe this pleasure after your hasty exit before?"

"Oh, well..." Hiccup wasn't sure how to start this conversation, so he just blurted it out. "What do you think of dragons?"

"... I've no hard feelings towards them." Gabble answered, a bit taken back by the sudden random question. "They're brilliantly beautiful creatures."

"Oh good." Hiccup relaxed, now he just had to ask Grout.

"Why?" Gabble asked.

"Come with me to the docks?" Hiccup asked. "I'm going to explain everything. Adlis is planning to meet me there once he drops his stuff back at his house."

"All right. Give me a few minutes to close up here." Gabble told him. "You go a head and tell Grout."

Hiccup smiled and left, making it to the dock in record time. Adlis was nowhere to be seen, so he headed to Grouts hut that was right next to the docks. It seemed Grout was asleep inside, if the loud snoring from inside was anything to go by. Hiccup knocked loudly and the snoring abruptly stopped.

"I'ma coming! I'ma coming!" Grouts ruff voice yelled, sounding irritated at being woken up. "Wadda ya want?"

Grout opened the door to find a shyly waving Hiccup and his grouchy attitude and frown instantly disappeared, replaced by a smile.

"Hiccup!" Grouch smiled. "Good to see ya!"

"You too." Hiccup said shyly.

"Was worried about ya after ya ran off." Grout told him, frowning worriedly. "Ya okay now?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup stuttered before plowing in with his questions like he had with the others. "Dragons."

"What about them Lad?" Grout asked him, confused at the sudden subject change.

"What do you think of them?" Hiccup asked quickly.

Grout stared at Hiccup, not sure how to answer, his opinion of dragons was mixed really. He reached his hand up and touched the long scar on the side of his face, running his fingers along it from his temple to jaw. He saw Hiccup's eyes follow the movement.

"Well, I've had my runs in with them." Grout said, choosing his words carefully. "Some good, some bad."

He looked down at Hiccup's anxious jittering and the way he shifted from one foot to the other constantly.

"I got this scar from a dragon, as well as a few others." He said, but instantly regretted telling the boy how he got them when he saw Hiccup's eyes widen and his skin pale. "Hiccup? Are ya okay?"

"Uh..." Hiccup couldn't complete his sentence to assure his friend he was all right, mainly because he wasn't.

His friend, his _first_ friend in his new life had been scarred by a dragon, more than once. He was sure that Grout hated them, and he feared that if he told his friend of his relationship with Toothless, he would lose him. Hiccup unconsciously started shaking in fear at that thought, he didn't want to lose one of his only friends, he'd never had them before, Toothless was his first friend ever and Grout was his second.

Grout noticed Hiccup's distress and instantly knelt next to him, grabbing his shoulder to shake the boy out of whatever was happening to him.

"Hiccup, HICCUP! Snap out of it!" Grout said as he shook the boy. "Hiccup, it's fine! I don't blame the dragons! We dueled, I lost. He came away with scars as well."

To Grouts' immense relief Hiccup stopped shaking and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Y-y-you don't b-blame the dragon?" Hiccup asked in awe.

"No Lad, I don't." Grout said softly, squeezing Hiccup's shoulders comfortingly.

"S-so you d-don't... Hate, dragons?" Hiccup stuttered anxiously.

"Hate?" Grout asked surprised. "The contrary my little friend! I love dragons!"

Grout smiled at the hope and relief shining in Hiccup's eyes.

"In fact, I got this scar in a friendly duel with a dragon." Grout told Hiccup as he stood. "He won that round, but I'd won a few against him as well. So it was no hard feelings between us."

"R-really?" Hiccup said, so relieved he wobbled a bit as his legs nearly gave under him.

"Yes, really, have I lied to you?" Grout asked, but quickly continued when Hiccup opened his mouth. "Don't answer that."

"Really?" Hiccup repeated, only more confidently than before. "Because I can name a few. Like when you lied to me about how Gabble loves Lily's but is, in fact, allergic to them and kept sneezing for the whole day because I left ONE on her desk. Or when you told me it was tradition on the island to wear all purple on the first of every month... Shall I go on?"

"Oh come now Hiccup, I wouldn't call those lies." Grout said smiling uncertainly.

"Oh, then what _would_ you call them?" Hiccup asked, his hands on his hips as he stared Grout down, his previous worries completely gone. "And if you say fibs or wrongly given advice, I will throw you from this dock, and don't think just because I'm smaller than you that I can't."

"Uh... Even if I can't swim?" Grout asked, grasping at straws.

"Can you swim?" Hiccup asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes..." Grout gulped.

"Then it doesn't matter, does it?" Hiccup asked rhetorically.

"No, I guess not." Grout chuckled slightly. "But I still wouldn't call those lies... More along the lines of pranks."

"So you pranked me into all those weird, embarrassing, and plain awkward situations?" Hiccup asked, both of his eyebrows now raised.

"...Uh... Basically?" Grout said, though it sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Good god, you're worse than the Twins." Hiccup murmured under his breath as he shook his head.

"What?" Grout asked, unable to understand Hiccup's murmur.

"Nothing, nothing." Hiccup sighed.

"Anyway, why'd you ask me about dragons?" Grout asked, finally getting back on track.

"Well, I'm going to explain everything about the dragon scales and where I live." Hiccup said, becoming slightly nervous again. "Adlis and Gabble are going to meet us here any minute and I can start to explain. Help me with my stuff?"

Grout nodded and helped Hiccup load his boat like always. They finished up and put the cart away just as the other two showed up. The four of them gathered next to Hiccup's boat.

"Okay, so first things first, this'll probably take the rest of the day." Hiccup told them. "So if you need to grab something, then I suggest you go and grab it or if you need to tell someone where you're going, I suggest you do that now."

The 3 nodded, but Grout was the only one to leave. They could all clearly see him putting up a sign on the door of his house, assumably telling people he was out and would be back at another time. He was back in only a few moments since he lived right at the docks.

"All right, do any of you have a boat?" Hiccup asked. "Because it'll be kinda hard for all of us to fit in my boat with all my stuff."

"I have one." Grout said. "It's small, but me and Gabble can fit in it, and you and Adlis can fit in yours."

"Perfect! Lets get going." Hiccup said, a bit anxious and a bit excited at the same time.

They all got into the boats and started out towards the rocks that surrounded the island. At first the 3 thought that Hiccup might live on one of them, though there was no way when reason came back to them. The rocks were uninhabitable. They were tiny, and couldn't support the amount of stuff Hiccup took to and from the Trading Post. They got near one of the rocks and Hiccup signaled to Grout to stop rowing and pull up beside his boat.

"All right, wait here for a second." Hiccup said as he climbed out of the boat and up the rocks. "TOOTHLESS!"

The 3 thought the boy'd lost his mind. What was he doing calling out such a weird thing on an uninhabited rock in the middle of the water?

"Uh, Hic? What are-" Adlis began, but was interrupted by a whining growl that came from the other side of the rock.

Suddenly a large black mass leaped over the rock and pounced on Hiccup. At first they thought he was being attacked and cursed they hadn't brought any weapons with them, just because they didn't hate dragons, didn't mean they wouldn't defend their friend from one if it attacked, but they paused as they heard Hiccup's laughter as the creature... licked his face.

"T-tooth-Bud st-stop it!" Hiccup laughed, trying in vain to push Toothless away.

Toothless licked Hiccup's face a few more times before stepping back to let him up. Hiccup tried to wipe the dragon slobber off, but it was no use, it was like trying to wipe off tar, just not possible. Hiccup stood and scratched Toothless's chin, causing the dragon to grin his gummy smile and emit more whining growls, this time in pleasure. Hiccup felt a little bad, he always left Toothless on the rock nearly all day. Sure Hiccup was making them a living, but he still missed his best friend, they'd hardly been able to just fly and relax since moving to The Fortress.

"...Uh... Hic?" Adlis' voice broke through Hiccup's happiness at seeing his friend.

Hiccup stopped scratching Toothless and looked down at his 3 friends in the boats, all of whom were staring at him with their mouths open. Hiccup shyly smiled down at them and Toothless was staring at the 3 humans curiously.

"Uh... Guys," Hiccup addressed them. "This is Toothless... He's my best friend."

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 **E/N~ Again, Sorry This Took So Long. What Did You Think? Not Too Much Of A Time Jump, Some People Didn't Want Any, But I Just Felt That If I Wrote Everything For His First Few Weeks, It Would Get REALLY Boring, Because It Was Basically The Same Thing Everyday: Wake Up, Go Get Rabbits, Get Fruit, Go To Post, Trade & Sell Until Everything Is Gone, Take Stuff Home, Eat, Sleep. Sure There Would Be A Few Things Here & There Of Him Fixing Up The Place, But It Just Felt Too Tedious & Boring, So I Compromised & Did A Small Time Skip. **

**Also, I Want To Thank Everyone For Their Votes On My Poll, It's Still Up If Anyone Still Wants To Vote. It'll Be Up For A While, As It's Going To Be Quite A Few Chapters Before Hiccup Even Goes Looking For The Dragon Island. XD**

 **Anyway, Please Tell Me What You Thought Of This Chapter In A Review! & Thanks For Reading! X3 **


	5. Stories Of The Past

**A/N~ Hey Guys, Sorry About The Late Update. I Was Planning To Update Last Night, But There Was A Storm & It Knocked Out Both My Internet & My TV. It Sucked! Well, Here's The Chapter So Many People Have Been Looking Forward To. You All Get To See What's Changed Around Hiccup's Little Home & How Completely Awesome It's Become! Also, A Bit Of A Peak At Berk At The End. I Hope You All Like It! XD **

**There's A Bit Of A Time Skip, Bit I Describe What Happens During That Time. I'm Really Just Glancing Over It. Hiccup Makes Some More Friends. XD**

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 **Disclaimer~ Not Mine, Wish It Were, But It's Not… I Only Own The OC's.**

 **Warning~ Not Much, There's A Bit Of Sad Injury, But It Heals Up. Oh, & There's Some Fighting. Hiccup Saves The Day Blah Blah Blah. ENJOY! X3 **

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**Ch. 5**

 **Stories Of The Past**

 **~7,771~**

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 _Suddenly a large black mass leaped over the rock and pounced on Hiccup. At first they thought he was being attacked and cursed they hadn't brought any weapons with them, just because they didn't hate dragons, didn't mean they wouldn't defend their friend from one if it attacked, but they paused as they heard Hiccup's laughter as the creature... licked his face._

 _"T-tooth-Bud st-stop it!" Hiccup laughed, trying in vain to push Toothless away._

 _Toothless licked Hiccup's face a few more times before stepping back to let him up. Hiccup tried to wipe the dragon slobber off, but it was no use, it was like trying to wipe off tar, just not possible. Hiccup stood and scratched Toothless's chin, causing the dragon to grin his gummy smile and emit more whining growls, this time in pleasure. Hiccup felt a little bad, he always left Toothless on the rock nearly all day. Sure Hiccup was making them a living, but he still missed his best friend, they'd hardly been able to just fly and relax since moving to The Fortress._

 _"...Uh... Hic?" Adlis' voice broke through Hiccup's happiness at seeing his friend._

 _Hiccup stopped scratching Toothless and looked down at his 3 friends in the boats, all of whom were staring at him with their mouths open. Hiccup shyly smiled down at them and Toothless was staring at the 3 humans curiously._

 _"Uh... Guys," Hiccup addressed them. "This is Toothless... He's my best friend."_

Hiccup stood next to his best friend, staring down at his only other 3 friends, all of whom were staring back at him with open mouths and shocked expressions. Hiccup shifted from one foot to the other nervously. He'd been standing there for nearly 5 minutes since he'd introduced his 4 friends, and no one had said anything, only stared.

"Uh..." Hiccup cleared his throat, hopping to get a reaction, he nearly sighed in relief when he did.

"Oh..." Grout said, snapping out of his shock, he wasn't really sure what to make of everything, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Toothless?"

Hiccup smiled at the confused question and looked down to Toothless.

"Bud? Wanna give them all a smile?" Hiccup asked, patting the dragon's head.

Toothless released a whiny groan and gave the 3 on the boats his trademark gummy smile, which made Hiccup smile as well. The 3 Vikings just stared at the dragon before Adlis burst out with a single loud laugh, startling the other 2.

"T-toothless!" Adlis exclaimed incredulously as the 3 of them stared at the gummy mouth. "He-he has no t-teeth!"

Suddenly Toothless unsheathed his teeth with a quick _shick_ , causing the 3 to startle and jump slightly, Grout nearly fell in the water, saved only by Gabble's quick reflexes. Toothless gave a warbly laugh at successfully startling the 3. They all continued to stared at the dragons', now tooth filled, mouth. They were all still registering Hiccups words, Gabble was the first to comprehend what he had said.

"Hiccup..." Gabble said, moving her eyes from the dragon to her young friend. "You said this dragon, _Toothless_ , is your _best friend_?"

Hiccup fidgeted when all eyes were on him, even Toothless'. He cleared his throat a few times before nodding.

"Y-yeah." Hiccup smiled down at Toothless. "He's my best friend, aren't you Bud?"

Toothless let out a soft cry and rubbed his head against Hiccup's side and both smiled in happiness.

"How... how did you meet?" Grout asked, still a little dumbstruck, but instantly regretted asking when Hiccup paled drastically.

"Oh, well..." Hiccup hesitated, looking back and forth between his 3 new friends and his first friend. "I-I think that's a-a story for, a-another time."

"All right Hic. you don't gotta tell us everythin' at once." Adlis said, sending a glance worried at the other two before looking back at the dragon and his friend. "Can I... pet him?"

Hiccup's face lit up with a blinding smile and he nodded, helping Adlis up onto the rock. He stood nervously in front of the dragon, not sure what to do.

"Just put your hand out, like this." Hiccup said, grabbing Adlis' hand and straightened out, so it was just a few inches from Toothless's face. "Now just wait for him to initiate the contact. It's all about trust."

Adlis nodded and waited. It was a few moments, probably only ten seconds before Toothless moved forward and Adlis' hand touched Toothless' head. Like Hiccup had done months ago, Adlis flinched slightly before sighing in relief that his hand hadn't been bitten off. Even though he liked dragons, he hadn't met many, and none as legendary as the Night Fury. Understandably, he was a little nervous.

"Whoa." Adlis whispered to himself once his anxiousness wore off.

After Adlis' encounter, both Grout and Gabble wanted to touch Toothless. Adlis moved next to Hiccup and continued petting Toothless' ear as Hiccup scratched his chin. Once Gabble and Grout both began to pet him, Toothless let out a long keen at the attention.

"His scales are so smooth." Gabble commented as she found a sensitive spot behind Toothless' ear and scratched.

"An' soft." Grout added with a chuckle at the Dragon's content expression.

"Yes, and very strong too." Hiccup commented, watching his friend bask in the attention.

"He's pretty big, where do you hide him?" Adlis asked as he took a step back and glanced up and down the dragon, taking in his length.

When he didn't receive an answer, he looked at Hiccup, hoping he hadn't asked a bad question like Gabble had. But when he looked at Hiccup's face, he knew that wasn't the case, for Hiccup had a large grin on his face and Adlis knew the answer wasn't going to bode well for him.

"Remember when you told me you were afraid of heights?" Hiccup asked and Adlis knew then he would regret asking.

Two hours later found Hiccup, Toothless, and their 3 friends being lifted through the air. First was Grout and Gabble in Grout's smaller boat. Toothless and Hiccup flew them to their home. They exited their boat and looked around at the amazing clearing with a river running through it that was filled by a beautiful waterfall. Over the river, about half way down the clearing, was a small foot bridge, crudely made, but clearly sturdy enough to hold a dragon, if the muddy footprints were any indication. There were small bushes surrounding the clearing on both sides of the river, making a small barrier between it and the forest, as well as several small, just sprouted saplings off to one side in clumps between the bushes. On the other side of the clearing, closer to the river and foot bridge, there was a large fenced in area that held in a couple oxen goats and sheep. Next to that, on the tree side, there was a shorter but more securely built fence that held a few dozen rabbits. There was a lot of tools just scattered around the area in small piles as well as wood that looked to be in the process of being made into something scattered around the clearing. On the other side of the river was what looked like a well tended garden. It was a good sized and it looked to hold a plethora of vegetables such as corn, lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes, as well as a few melons.

They could see that off to the far end of the clearing, on the other side of the river, far away from the animals, and right against the forest line, was a small building, probably as big as one of the large stalls back at the Trading Post. They figured this was where Hiccup lived.

Hiccup told them to make themselves at home before he and Toothless left to go get Adlis and the goods. They made their way over to the building and opened the door. They thought they'd see a bed and maybe a few shelves, but they did not expect to find an incomplete forge. All the stuff Hiccup had gotten in trades or bought in the past few day were stacked up on one side, the other side held a half finished furnace and hearth.

This confused the duo, if this was supposed to be the forge, then where did Hiccup sleep? They decided to wait until Hiccup came back before asking. It was a good ten minutes before they heard the screaming. At first they thought someone was being attacked, but then they recognized who was yelling and they could understand what was being yelled.

"DAMN IT HICCUP! DAMN YOU TO HEL AND BACK!" Adlis yelled. "I HOPE YOU NEVER SELL ANOTHER DAMNED RABBIT OR FRUIT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

When Toothless flew into view and landed, Grout and Gabble could do nothing but laugh. Adlis was holding onto Hiccup with not only his arms around his chest, but his legs around his waist, his eyes closed tight. Hiccup was trying not to laugh by biting his bottom lip, but Toothless had no problem warbling a laugh at the scared teen. As soon as they landed Adlis jumped off Hiccup and Toothless and nearly face planted into the ground, causing Hiccup to burst out laughing as he gracefully hopped down. Hiccup leaned against Toothless as both laughed.

"Ha ha, very funny Hic." Adlis scowled at his friend. "You know how terrified I am of heights!"

"I know, I know." Hiccup said, calming down. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think you'd react that dramatically."

"Whatever." Adlis pouted, but Hiccup saw that his mouth twitched with a small smiled, seeing the hilarity in the situation. He looked around the area they'd landed for the first time. "So this is where you live?"

He spotted the small building a few yards away from Gabble and Grout and pointed to it.

"That your home?" He asked.

"No, that's the Forge I'm building. It's not quite done yet." Hiccup said, walking towards the waterfall. "Come on, I'll show you where I live."

Confused, the group followed their friend to the base of the waterfall. Hiccup slipped behind it and disappeared. The group stared for a second, before Toothless followed behind him, disappearing behind the waterfall as well. Still confused but now very curious, they followed the two behind the cascading water. They instantly saw what had to be the entrance to Hiccup's home. There was a large wooden door that seemed built right into the rock, but upon closer inspection it was clear that hinges had been melted into the rock to attach the door. It seemed the door was made barn style as one side was open and the other closed. Intricate designs were scorched into the wood, making it very ornate and beautiful. The end of the open door reached out until it nearly touched the water, only missing by a few inches. They could just see Toothless' tail disappear through the open door and followed him inside.

Inside was beyond anything they could have imagined. It was huge, bigger than the biggest trading stalls, even bigger than the bottom floor of the Town Hall, which was an impressive size. The walls were filled with colorful rocks and crystals and it seemed the entrance was off to the left of the wall it was situated in. To the right was what could only be called the kitchen. There was table, a chair, several shelves then held cutlery, plates, goblets, and foods like bread, salted meat, salt, vegetables, and fruit.

In the middle of the large cave, there was a massive, blue oval rug, easily fifteen feet across and twenty five feet wide that covered nearly the entire floor. On the rug there were half a dozen large pillows. Some where sheep skin gray and others rabbit fur brown, though all of them looked like they would feel like little slices of heaven were you to sit on them.

To the left were shelves that held animal feed, tools, paper, pencils, chalk, a few cloth bags, and a pile of cloth that they all recognized as the scarf Hiccup had commissioned a few months ago. There was also a desk placed in between the shelves that had papers scattered around it and pinned to the wall above it. They could see drawings of Toothless, a map of what could only be the island, another map that seemed to cover a much larger space with many different islands, and what looked like a schematic for a fin of some type.

Past the desk and shelves was a large cloth that hung from ceiling to floor. Looking up at the ceiling, they could see metal rails installed to hold the cloth, creating a wall for privacy. They could only think that it was Hiccup's bedroom, what else would need privacy like that? They also guessed that was where Hiccup and Toothless where, because they couldn't see the small boy or the large lizard anywhere. Their suspicions were confirmed when they heard Hiccup's voice come from behind the curtain.

"Fine then, just sleep on your rock, no berries for you then." Hiccup scolded, and thought they couldn't see his face, they heard the playfulness in his voice.

There was a warble that could only be the dragon and they could almost hear the indifference in the sound. They heard Hiccup's laugh and saw movement from behind the curtain just before it moved to the side, reveling Hiccup, he had taken off his fur coat and replaced it with a white tunic, it went very well with his black pants and leather boots.

They hadn't noticed much, but compared to the child that had happened onto their trading post a few months ago, wearing a fur vest, a green tunic and brown pants with flimsy sandals, looking almost like a tree, Hiccup had changed a lot since then. The boy had grown a few centimeters, just barely shorter than Adlis now, and his hair had grown a bit too, almost not noticeable, if it weren't for the fact that Hiccup had to blow it out of his eyes every now and then. Also, Hiccup had lost his Tree look, having grown out of the cloths he wore, and having to buy new ones. And with Gabble, Adlis, and Grout there to help him steer clear of the gaudy colors and pick the colors that accented him. He wore dark colors like black, dark reds and blues, but then also picking the perfect bright colors that brought out his bright green eyes, like sky blue and dark yellow, and the one unfortunate deep purple color that Grout had tricked him into getting, though that surprisingly still worked for him. All in all, he was quite the catch.

"Hey guys, welcome to my home!" Hiccup welcomed them. "Sorry I don't have any chairs, you're the first people who've been here beside me and Toothless."

He pointed back to the curtain where they could just see Toothless's tail swishing back and forth on a large charcoal colored rock.

"What's back there?" Gabble asked.

"Nothing much, just my room." Hiccup shrugged. "A bed, a desk, a shelf or two. Toothless' rock. Here, lets sit down."

Hiccup motioned to the large pillows in the middle of the rug. The 4 of them plop down on the large pillows and get comfy.

"How'd ya find this place Hic?" Grout asked, looking at the pretty rocks in the ceiling and walls. "I mean, did you just happen upon The Volcano and settle here?"

"Volcano?" Hiccup asked.

"That's what we named this place. We were never sure it was an island." Gabble explained. "We never really believed the stories."

"We figured it was jus' a big solitary volcano." Grout continued.

"Hence the name." Adlis chuckled.

"Well, actually, the island where I'm from calls this place The Fortress." Hiccup said. "We don't really believe the stories either, it's really more of a myth or a legend. A tall tale of sorts. It's on our maps as an island, but it's not in the path of what ships usually travel."

"So you picked it for it's solitude?" Gabble asked.

"Partially. I picked it because if anyone did come searching for me for whatever reason, they would never find me." Hiccup explained. "It was out of the way of ships and it is well known in my village so no one would think I would hide here. Plus, because of the volcano on the island, I didn't think I would have to worry about the Freeze as much."

"Smart thinking." Gabble said, but then the rest of what he had said caught up with her. "Why did you leave your home? And _why_ would someone come after you?"

"Ah, well..." Hiccup hesitated, but was saved from answering when Adlis jumped in.

"Maybe he's a fugitive!" Adlis exclaimed with an excited look.

Well, _saved_ is a relative term.

"No, I'm not a fugitive... at least I wasn't when I left." Hiccup mumbled. "If I returned home now, I'm sure I'd be branded a traitor."

"Why?" Grout asked, looking confused.

"I come from Berk." Hiccup answered.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Gabble looked at Hiccup thoughtfully while both Grout and Adlis stared at him open mouthed. Berk was a famous Viking village to the East. Famous because it got hit the strongest by the dragon raids and had the strongest of Vikings. After all, only a handful of Viking villages tried to find the nest, let alone send out ships when the Freeze was starting to set in. Berk was famous for its stubborn and deadly Vikings, even as far West as they were where they didn't even get dragon raids.

"B-Berk. You're from Berk?" Adlis asked in shock.

"Actually, I'm not just _from_ Berk." Hiccup said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "I was the heir of Berk. My father was Stoick the Vast."

"I knew your name was fake but I never thought you be the son of someone so famous." Gabble said, looking decidedly less shocked than the others.

"I think ya better tell us the whole story from the very beginning 'iccup." Grout told him with a very serious look.

"W-well, it all started with one late night dragon raid..."

Hiccup spent the next few hours reliving the horror of shooting Toothless down, being humiliated by his father, finding Toothless and letting him go, starting Dragon Training, befriending Toothless, using what he learned from Toothless in Dragon Training, earning his fathers' pride and acceptance, and then leaving when he realized that it was a serious possibility that he would be the one to kill the Nightmare. He told them about the note he left and the islands he'd run across on his journey to The Fortress, the dragons's he'd seen only a few hours from there, and he told them about why he hadn't told them sooner: his fear of losing Toothless, his first friend.

When it was all said and done, Adlis had a few tears running down his face, and both of the adults had mixtures of shock, sadness, pride, and anger on their faces. They were all very quiet while Hiccup told his story, only small gasp or grumbled curses, and Hiccup was eternally grateful for that. He wasn't sure if he could stop every few minutes to answer question, nor was he sure he would be able to start back up if he had stopped. So the silence was much appreciated, but now that he'd finished his story, the quiet was eating away at him.

"S-so?" Hiccup asked nervously, pushing himself back into Toothless, whom had come out and wrapped himself around Hiccup while he was telling their story.

The silence remained for a long tense minute before Gabble finally spoke up.

"I... I'm very proud you handled such a terrible situation so well." Gabble said slowly, thinking carefully on every word she said. "And I'm very angry at your father for treating you so horribly."

Hiccup just stared at her, and then the others when they nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I can't believe someone would treat their son like that. Monsters, the lot of them." Adlis raged.

"An' the whole village too! Can't believe they'd treat their own heir such a way." Grout steamed from his spot next to Gabble, his fist clenching his trousers' fabric.

"You-you mean you're not... not mad at me for running away?" Hiccup stuttered.

"Oh Odin, no! Of course we ain't mad at ya!" Grout said, looking a bit surprised. "Like Gabble said, we're very proud a ya."

Hiccup stared at the 3 of them. He wasn't sure what to say, he hadn't expected them to accept him so easily, and he definitely hadn't expect them to be _proud_ of him. Hiccup didn't know what to do with himself. Suddenly he felt something sting at his eyes and then a warm trickle down his cheeks. He touched his face and looked at his hand, surprised to see tears, he hadn't cried since he was 10 and his father had scolded him for going out in a blizzard to get some medicine. Dear Odin, had that really been almost 6 years ago?

"I-I..." Hiccup wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Hic." Adlis said, patting him on the shoulder. "There's no shame in crying."

"I-I just..." Hiccup tried to explain what he didn't fully understand. "It's just, no one's ever told me they were proud of me."

"Well dear, we are, and we're not afraid to tell you." Gabble said, standing and then kneeling in front of Hiccup and pulling him into a hug. This only brought out more tears from the young man seeing as he wasn't used to being hugged. His mother had been taken when he was to younger to truly remember her hugs, and Stoick had never been a hugger. Gobber had given him a few one armed hugs, but that was all, he had never realized how affection starved he truly was until that moment. He wondered if this was how a mother's hug should feel.

"N-n-no one's e-ever h-hug-hugged me be-before." Hiccup said through his sobs.

"Oh Hiccup." Gabble cooed, her mother side coming out. "If you ever need a hug, or even someone to talk to, I'm here for you."

"Yeah Hic, same goes for me." Adlis agreed, giving Hiccup a happy smile.

"We'll always be here for you, o' course." Grout added in with a warm smile.

Hiccup gave his friends a watery smile in return from behind Gabble's arms. Suddenly Adlis chuckled and pointed behind him. Toothless was giving them all his signature gummy smile, and this just made Hiccup laugh.

"Yeah, I know you're always going to be here for me too buddy." Hiccup smiled and scratched Toothless behind his ear, receiving a few licks in return. "Gah! That's so gross Bud! You know that doesn't come out!"

Toothless let out a warblly laugh, which caused everyone else to laugh. They laughed like that and joked around until near sundown, before Toothless and Hiccup took the 3 back to the Post, and because it was night time, they could fly directly to the docks instead of having to row the last half an hour. The 3 promised they wouldn't say anything when Hiccup asked, but they also told him that no one on the island would really mind. Adlis had even joked that that Ivan Roman guy would probably be ecstatic. Hiccup could see their new goal was to get him to tell everyone, but it had taken him months just to tell them, and despite the people who lived on the Post being relatively dragon friendly, he wasn't sure if he was ready to give this up just yet if something went wrong.

Hiccup and Toothless returned home, both falling into their respective beds after such a long day. Hiccup thought about how he would tell everyone, if he ever did. He couldn't just fly on Toothless and land in the middle of the Trading Area. _Maybe I could tell people first, gauge their reactions? That way, if someone didn't like dragons I could just pretend it was a joke or hypothetical. Maybe that would work? That'll take a long time though, going through the whole Trading Post... too long. Maybe it's just not worth it? I mean, my friends know about Toothless, isn't that enough? Everyone's reactions could be different._ Hiccup thought as he lay in his bed, slowly falling asleep to the sound of Toothless' snores. _It doesn't matter, I have all the time in the world._

Little did Hiccup know, in only a few short months his hand would be forced and soon everyone on the Trading Post would know about him and Toothless.

The rest of the Freeze went by pretty well, Hiccup had actually managed to make a few more friends, thanks to Adlis and Gabble, Grout really wasn't a big help in the friends department, being a prankster, he typically scared people off. Luckily, most of his new friends were used to Grout, having lived around him for most of their lives.

Hiccup had made friends with Gabble's twin daughters, Jensina and Amalie, who were 2 years younger than him, and vastly different than each other. One, Amalie, was extremely girly; she had long wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes, clearly from her father since Gabble's were a murky green color, she often wore colorful dress' and a flower crown in her hair, she was always smiling and had a very bubbly and enthusiastic personality. Her sister, Jensina, on the other hand, was very macho; always wearing pants and sleeveless shirts, her hair cut short like Adlis' and she would constantly make fun of her sister for wearing flowers, probably to strengthen her bad girl reputation. And though they had the same eye color, her eyes always seemed darker when standing next to her sister, probably because Jensina was always in what seemed to be a bad mood, she was perpetually nasty to people, probably trying to distance herself from her sister's bright personality as much as possible. Though despite their differences, they got along fantastically like only twins could, even finishing each others sentences, speaking at the same time, or reading each others thoughts. Hiccup was reminded of the pair of twins he'd left on Berk and wondered if they could ever get along like the two girls, he doubted it.

By the last month of the Freeze, Hiccup had even made a new dragon friend. He'd been exploring the volcano and had tumbled upon a few panicking Smothering Smokebreath's. They were small dragons, bigger than the Terrible Terrors, but not by much, about the size of a sheered were a dark gray smokey color with long tails that looked like shredded ribbons. From what Hiccup could remember, their only offense was that they could breathe small fires, though they were majorly defensive. They could breathe large amounts of smoke the same color as its body, giving it the perfect cover to escape unnoticed. They were relatively harmless.

Upon closer inspection of the panicking dragons, it seemed that their cave had collapsed, trapping one inside. Hiccup and Toothless immediately began to help the small dragons free their comrade, spending the next 2 hours digging the poor thing out. When they finally got the dragon out, it was unconscious and very injured; both of its left legs were broken and one of it's wings was broken as well, it was bent at an odd angle, luckily it wasn't ripped. The other Smothering Smokebreath's swarmed the injured dragon, but deemed her un-savable and left her to die. Hiccup, feeling terribly sad for the dragon, gathered her up in his arms and took her back to his home to treat her injuries.

The little dragon was lucky, it would have surely died if Hiccup hadn't saved it. Hiccup was able to set its wing using some metal rods and leather straps, while he set and bandaged the legs with cloth. When the little dragon woke up, it was clear it was in too much pain to panic. Hiccup had to slowly explain what had happened to the dragon, but it seemed to understand. It was very grateful, licking Hiccup's face and streaming so much smoke into the cave is made it hazy. Which is what Hiccup decided to name her: Hazy. The Smothering Smokebreath seemed to like it, if the increased amount of smoke was anything to go by.

It only took a few weeks for the dragons' wing to heal, and then the dragon wouldn't leave Hiccup's side, which was a problem considering he spent most of his day at the Post, he had convinced the dragon to not try and follow him for the first week after her wing had healed, saying he didn't want to hurt herself again, but after that, the dragon, even with its two still broken legs would follow him to the Post. It was hard to explain at first, what with people gaping and pointing at him. Even though it was a dragon friendly island, no one had been brave enough to bring a dragon to the Trading Area due to the Romans and dragon hating Vikings they got, but once he said that he'd saved its life and that it was still injured, everyone just accepted the little dragon as a part of the Mystery that was Hiccup, even the Romans and Vikings just let it go, considering it was injured, and a relatively harmless dragon at that. And apparently, Hiccup seemed capable enough to everyone to keep the little dragon in check, much to Hiccup's surprise and delight.

Adlis and Amalie instantly fell in love with Hazy, thinking she was absolutely adorable and cooing over her injuries. The little dragon soaked up the attention like a sponge thrown into the sea. Despite the 3 year age difference, it seemed that Adlis and Amalie were soon going to be a couple, though they were dancing around it like a couple of chickens dancing around feed. Gabble didn't seem to mind, Adlis was a good kid, responsible, but like any boy a little mischievous, but considering she was friends with Grout, she was used to it.

Ivan was, like Adlis had thought, ecstatic. He was practically drooling over the dragon scales Hiccup had brought him, near a dozen had fallen off Hazy when he was setting and wrapping her limbs. Hiccup said it was a down payment on the next garment he was going to ask for, boots, which Ivan had told him would be much more expensive than the gloves, probably twice as much. Hiccup was perfectly fine with that, he had gotten his gloves after 2 weeks, and he loved them. They were perfect, everything he had wanted, and more. The inside was insulated with a thin layer of sheep's skin, expertly stitched and extremely comfortable and warm, but it breathed so it didn't get too warm or sweaty. The scales fit perfectly together and looked just like they did when they were on Toothless. It had only taken roughly 150 scales for both of the gloves and Ivan gave the rest back to Hiccup after taking the 20 scales he's asked for payment for the gloves. Hiccup saved them for his next project. He had seen another set of gloves with scaled knuckles and some jewelry made out of Toothless's scales the next time he'd visited. They were all very pretty and girls were swarming to buy them.

When he talked to Ivan about the other garments he'd want in the future, the Roman was all too excited to complete them for his new friend, though he was sad to have to wait, the 12 smokey gray scales helped dissipate that sadness. And when Ivan saw the little dragon flying behind Hiccup he nearly fainted, he had to sit down when Hiccup told him that Hazy was his friend and was living with him.

"Iz zat how youz gotz ze Night Fury zcalzez?" Ivan asked curiously. "Youz befended himz?"

"K-kinda." Hiccup replied nervously.

"Iz zee." Ivan said, adopting a thinking pose for a few moments before quickly standing up, looking determined. "Iz haz made upz myz mind."

"About what?" Hiccup asked warily.

"Iz iz moving to ze Tradingz Pozt." Ivan exclaimed.

"What?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"Iz iz moving here." Ivan said with a big smile, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Ze Tradingz Pozt iz where Iz zellz mozt of myz ztuff, makez mozt of mez profitz. And youz iz now mez zcalez zupplier. Iz have zought about itz a lotz and have dezided. In ze nextz few montz, mez and myz zon will bez movingz here."

"You have a son?" Hiccup asked, having not known that before.

"Yez, one a little olderz zan youz." Ivan smiled. "Iz be hopingz youz twoz be good fendz."

"S-sure." Hiccup answered.

"Palmarium!" Ivan exclaimed happily, much to Hiccup's confusion.

"W-what?" Hiccup asked.

"Ah, zorry. Iz zaid exzelent." Ivan answered, looking a bit sheepish.

"What language was that?" Hiccup asked.

"Itz waz Latin." Ivan said.

"Latin?"

"Yez, Latin iz ze main lanuage of ze Roman Empire." Ivan smiled. "Ifz youz would likez, Iz could teach youz zome?"

"I would love that!" Hiccup smiled.

Over the next few weeks they set aside a time for the lessons. Hiccup insisted paying him for the tutoring, in scales of course, 2 scales a week for the tutoring. It was tough learning a new language, but Ivan was a surprisingly good teacher, and he brought books for Hiccup that helped a lot. And Hiccup also helped Ivan learn better Norse, the man was hard to understand because he added z's to everything.

It was almost 2 months later when everything went wrong. While the Trading post didn't get dragon raids, they would, every few years, get raided by bandits and outcasts, so they had a few watch towers to look for sneaky ships so they could prepare for the onslaught. Hiccup, however; did not know of this, so when while he was setting up his stall one morning and a loud horn blew, he had no idea what was happening.

"It's a raid!" Adlis yelled over the panicking cries of the vendors.

"I thought you didn't get raids this far West?" Hiccup called in confusion.

"Not a dragon raid!" Adlis called back. "It's bandits or outcasts!"

Another horn went off, three times then twice more and Adlis paled.

"Three ships from the East!" Adlis called out as he stuffed all his stuff into his bags.

Hiccup followed Adlis' lead and loaded his stuff up into his cart and pushed it into the now empty stall, closing the doors and windows to the stall to make it look unused before what Adlis said registered.

"The East?" Hiccup asked wide-eyed. "Toothless!"

"Hiccup!" Adlis yelled after his friend.

Hiccup ran to the docks, ignoring Adlis' calls. He ran to his boat, seeing Grout and Gabble, along with several dozen other adult standing there, more coming by the second, all watching the 3 large ships get closer and closer. They all had weapons of some sort, prepared to defend the Post with their lives.

"Hiccup, you need to go back into town, we'll try to hold them off until all the children and elderly are safe in the hills." Gabble commanded, but Hiccup ignored him.

"But Toothless's out there." Hiccup argued, not caring who heard him.

Grout was about to comment but was distracted when a bright blue fire ball shot at one of the ships, lighting one of its' sails on fire. Everyone watched in confusion and shock, wondering where it had come from. Another shot was fired, lighting another sail on fire. By the time Grout looked back to where Hiccup was, he was gone. Looking around, he could see Hiccup was already in his boat, casting off.

"HICCUP!" Grout yelled, getting everyone's attention to now be on the boy heading towards the fight.

"Oh Odin, please protect him." Gabble prayed.

They watched as Hiccup quickly made it out to one of the rocks, it took him probably a good fifteen minutes with the help of Hazy, and by that time, everyone had pinpointed the rock the fire blasts were coming from. Only a few more shots had been fired, destroying the mast of one ship and several other sails, and arrows had been fired from the ships, but they couldn't see the bandits' target behind the rock. Hiccup reached the rock and hopped off his boat. It was only a few seconds later they all saw a large black mass leap from the rock and into the air. It took everyone a few moments to realize what they had seen was a dragon.

They watched as the dragon flew around the ships, blasting masts and driving the ships either to the bottom of the ocean or away, in the end 2 of the 3 ships sank, and the final one held nearly all of the bandits that had fled the sinking ships. It also only had one of its two masts left and tattered and burning sails. They retreated with cries of fear. The people at the Trading Post had quickly realized that Hiccup was riding the dragon when he flew too close to the Post while circling around, something Hiccup also noticed when he heard cries of shock, the people were amazed someone could ride a dragon.

When the horn went off again, this time signaling the ships retreating, everyone came to the docks to see what had happened, a raid had never been that short before, some wondered if it were a false alarm, but quickly dismissed that idea when they saw the burring ship retreating. They watched as Hiccup flew back to the rock, hooking up his boat and dragging it back to the docks, where near the entire village was watching and waiting. Everyone was quiet as Hiccup pulled his boat into his spot and Toothless landed on front of it, giving everyone a wary glance.

"Uh..." Hiccup said as he dismounted Toothless. He wasn't really sure what to say, he was speechless.

"HICCUP!" Hiccup heard his name being called by several people in the crowd. Distinctly he could hear Gabble, Jensina, and Adlis.

The crowd parted for the small group and Hiccup could see both of the twins, their mother, Adlis and Grout along with them. All looking worried. Hiccup was about to speak, say that he was fine or something along those line when he was tackled by Amalie who was practically sobbing into his shirt.

"Um..." Hiccup was once again speechless as he was surrounded by his small group of friends. When Amalie pulled away, Hazy cooed to the girl, landing in her arms, trying to calm her. She had come to like her a lot, almost as much as Hiccup. And though neither of the twins had met Toothless, neither payed him much attention, too worried about Hiccup to care about the ox sized dragon behind him.

"I-I'm fine guys." Hiccup told them, seeing all of their worried looks.

"Good." Jensina said before punching him in the arm, hard. "Don't you ever do that again!"

"I agree young man, don't you ever scare us like that again." Gabble said, and Hiccup could easily see the resemblance in mother and daughter in their stances and angry tones.

"S-sorry." Hiccup apologized with his head down.

"Good, now ya better get tha-" Grout started but was interrupted by the twins.

"Holy mother of Thor, Hiccup!" The twins yelled together, staring at the large black dragon sitting on its hind legs behind Hiccup.

Hiccup turned around and saw Toothless looking around with wary eyes and paled slightly, turning back around to see the entire village staring at him and Toothless.

"Uh..." Hiccup wasn't prepared for this, he hadn't even thought of how he would tell the Twins, let alone the whole village yet, he was scared he'd be tossed out. Liking dragons was far from being best friends with one and riding on ones back.

"Is that a Night Fury?" Jensina asked, staring at Toothless with wide eyes.

"Um... yes." Hiccup answered nervously.

The twins looked at each other before looking back at Hiccup and Toothless, large grins on their faces.

"Cool." They said in tandem and ran up to Toothless, petting him and cooing at him.

Amalie scratched his chin like they did Hazy and despite his best attempts at staying alert, Toothless went boneless, collapsing to the ground and making pleased chirps with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he laid there. He rolled over on his back and Jensina started scratching his stomach and his leg started kicking like a dogs. The girls laughed at this and continued loving on the dragon.

The rest of the village watched in awe as the two girls were unafraid of the supposedly fearsome dragon. And that said dragon was acting like a puppy, his tail swishing back and forth, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, his leg kicking rapidly in the air. It was actually a very funny and adorable sight, causing most of the village who could see him to chuckle and the rest of the village to leave and head back to their stalls or homes, not seeing the Night Fury as a threat, besides, it had just saved the entire village.

When 3/4's of the village left, Hiccup let out a relieved sigh, glad no one had tried to kill Toothless and none looked angry or distrustful, only happy and curious. Some villagers came up to Hiccup, asking questions about Toothless and the contraption they'd spotted on his tail. Hiccup explained as best as he could, happy he wasn't being rejected from his new home. Hiccup smiled as Adlis and Grout joined in on scratching Toothless, who was limp on the ground by now, in complete bliss. And when he told the villagers he'd been hiding Toothless on the rocks, some even told him that he could come with them to his stall, none of the customers could argue and threaten the saviors of the Trading Post, even if they were a dragon and his rider.

 **\- Back on Berk -**

Stoick looked out into the wide open ocean, wondering where his son could possibly be. They'd searched the entire island, finding nothing. The boy had cleaned his room of anything besides that horrid note. The same was discovered when they searched his small office at the Forge. The only thing they'd found there was the gift he'd left for Gobber, which was something the man would not share with him, even under threat, but Gobber had assured him it had nothing to do with Hiccup's disappearance, and was something private.

The Freeze had just ended a week ago, the last of the ice melting with it, and they could finally start searching for Hiccup off the island. He had no idea where the boy would go, surely someplace far away, if his letter was truthful, and they'd never find him. When he'd first read the letter, he wasn't sure how far of a head start Hiccup had gotten, a day? Tow at most, but now he had a good 5 months on them, he could have gone anywhere. For Thor's sake! He could have left the Archipelago all together, and if that was the case there was no way they would be able to find him.

Stoick continued to search the horizon for anything besides the rising sun. They had a search party planned, two ships in each direction from Berk, spreading out to search where ever they could. They were to come back in a month and not to return sooner without some type of news, be it good or bad. The ships had been stocked the night before, and Stoick was nervous, mainly because he wasn't going with them. He was taking Gobber's advice and he wasn't going to search for Hiccup. The Vikings were ordered that if they found Hiccup, they weren't supposed to tell them they were searching for him, but that it was a coincidence that they'd met, if they did. It was the best plan he could come up with, Gobber surely saw through it, but it was all he could do.

Ever since Hiccup had left, the entire village had been much quieter, more solemn and sad, as if the life of the village had been sucked out. The teens had completed Dragon Training, though Astrid had refused to kill the Nightmare, saying it was Hiccup's kill, and she hadn't earned it, Fishlegs had followed her example as the only other person who would have even remotely come close to winning the honor to kill the dragon. The whole group of Teens had been shocked to hear the news of Hiccup leaving. The Twins were sad, thinking about all the chaos that Hiccup had wrought almost every day not happening anymore, Snotlout was angry his cousin had skipped out on being Chief, before he realized he would probably be the next chief, something he'd always wanted. But he was nervous, Hiccup had learned how to be Chief since he was a child, he had no idea how to do it. Fishlegs was sad, but curious as to why Hiccup had left, and how he'd had gotten off the island without anyone noticing. Astrid had been pissed, thinking her rival had fled, but after a few days, sadness set in and she wondered if maybe she'd pushed him away, she realized that, even though Hiccup had been doing so good in Dragon Training, they'd never really talked, only the odd insult here and there from her.

After a few weeks, all the Teens were angst about why Hiccup had left, thinking it was because of them, how they'd treated him, the names they'd called him, that they'd drove him away. And they would have been partly correct.

Gobber stepped up beside Stoick, looking out at the sun rise too.

"You know, he's going to be furious if you force him to come back here." Gobber said sagely. "He'll just run away again."

"I know." Stoick sighed. "But maybe I can fix some of out fall outs while he's here."

"You know, if they find him." Gobber add's uselessly.

"Yes, If." Stoick agrees, and Gobber is surprised by the pessimistic outlook his friend gave at finding his son. "Don't give me that look, I know the chances of finding him are slim to none."

"Well, at least you're being realistic." Gobber said and they broke off into a long silence.

"Chief?" Spitelout asked from behind them, causing them to turn around.

There were a good two dozen Vikings standing behind them, all holding weapons and overnight bags. Clearly they were the Vikings that the were about to set off in search of Hiccup.

"You're all ready?" Stoick asked.

"Yes." Snotlout replied. "The ships are stocked and we're all packed, we leave on your order."

"Then get going." Stoick ordered, and the Vikings sprung into action. "You're wasting daylight!"

The Vikings boarded the boats and cast off, leaving both Stoick and Gobber at the docks to watch them sail away.

"Gobber?" Stoick asked, his voice quiet.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think they'll find him?"

"Not sure, that boy is as stubborn a Viking as you ever were." Gobber smiled, patting his friend on the back. "Hel, if they do find him, they'll have one heck of a fight on their hands."

That got a laugh out of Stoick, and Gobber considered it a win. They smiled at each other before heading back to the village; Hiccup the only thing on their minds.

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 **E/N~ So? What'd Ya Think? I Hope Everyone Liked It! I Believe This Is The Longest Chapter Yet! XD**

 **Anyway, Please Check Out My Poll, It's Still Up, & I've Already Started On The Next Chapter, So It Shouldn't Take As Long As This One Did. Thanks For Reading & Reviewing Everyone! X3 **


	6. As Time Passes

**A/N~ Hey Everyone!** **Just Want To Wish Everyone A Merry X-Mas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Yuletide, Happy New Year, & Happy/Merry Anything Else People Celebrate During This Time Of Year! This Chapter Was Supposed To Go Up Christmas Morning, But My Alarm Didn't Go Off, So When I Woke Up 2 Hours Late, I Didn't Have The Time To Update. So Sorry About That! ;P **

**Here's The Next Chapter! We Get A Peak Into Berk Life, & Hiccup's New Life! I Hope You Like It!**

 **Warning: There's A Major Time Jump Of Like 30 Or So Months, So Like, 2 Years & A Few Months. I Hope It Doesn't Mess Anyone Up Or Anything. **

**Disclaimer: I Wish It Were Mine, But Sadly, No, 'Tis Not Mine. T-T**

* * *

 **Ch. 6**

 **As Time Passes**

 **~6,721~**

* * *

 _The rest of the village watched in awe as the two girls were unafraid of the supposedly fearsome dragon. And that said dragon was acting like a puppy, his tail swishing back and forth, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, his leg kicking rapidly in the air. It was actually a very funny and adorable sight, causing most of the village who could see him to chuckle and the rest of the village to leave and head back to their stalls or homes, not seeing the Night Fury as a threat, besides, it had just saved the entire village._

 _When 3/4th's of the village left, Hiccup let out a relieved sigh, glad no one had tried to kill Toothless and none looked angry or distrustful, only happy and curious. Some villagers came up to Hiccup, asking questions about Toothless and the contraption they'd spotted on his tail. Hiccup explained as best as he could, happy he wasn't being rejected from his new home. Hiccup smiled as Adlis and Grout joined in on scratching Toothless, who was limp on the ground by now, in complete bliss. And when he told the villagers he'd been hiding Toothless on the rocks, some even told him that he could come with them to his stall, none of the customers could argue and threaten the saviors of the Trading Post, even if they were a dragon and his rider._

Several months passed and Ivan and his son, Levin, moved to the Trading Post. Levin was nothing like his father except his bright blue eyes. Levin had short red hair that resembled fire, and he was quite tall, though not taller than his Roman father, but taller than both Adlis and Hiccup by a few inches. And the most surprising thing, was that he spoke fluent Norse, unlike his father who spoke with a very heavy accent and didn't know some words, Levin barely had any accent at all. Apparently Levin's mother had been Norse, a Shield Maiden who had, in fact, died in a Roman battle against an army of warriors from the North. Ivan told Hiccup that Levin had his mother's fierce will but also her softness, if it could be drawn out.

When Levin and Hiccup met, it was clear the Roman didn't think much of the Viking, considering he looked down at him with a glare and a sneer, but Hiccup thought that maybe he was like his Father in that he just needed to get to know him first, after all, he and Ivan hadn't clicked at first, but now they were friends. He offered him some fruit from his stall as a peace offering, and Levin's eyes narrowed but, at his fathers insistence, he followed Hiccup.

They walked through the village, taking the long way to Hiccup's stall. Hiccup was hoping to get Levin to like the place, after all, they just moved here, it wouldn't do for him to dislike his new home. They passed by the Town Hall, Levin didn't look impressed and just sneered, saying that the building was too tall and open, it would be easy to raid. They passed the Town Forge, there were weapons and metal wheels hanging and leaning against the walls they could see, Levin just commented on how primitive the wheels were compared to the ones Roman's used. They made their way through the town and Levin kept up his small sneering comments about how everything was so vastly different from in the Roman Empire.

They made it to the Trading Area and Hiccup saw the first glance of uncertainty flash in Levin's eyes, but the teen covered it up quickly. Hiccup was sure that if Ivan hadn't taken Levin's sword when they arrived, the teen would have been gripping the handle tightly at the sight of so many weapon wielding Vikings. They made their way through the Trading Area, dodging Vikings and merchants and carts and oxen. Hiccup was pretty good at dodging everyone, only having to apologize every once in awhile, but Levin was a different story, he was much bigger and it was harder for him to dodge with his size, though when he did bump into someone he just grunted instead of apologizing, not that anyone really minded, they were in too much of a hurry to hear, let alone accept, an apology. Hiccup was trying to see through Levin's hard exterior and had to think that maybe Levin knew that, and that's why he didn't apologize.

As they neared Hiccup's stall, the teen's eyes widened when he saw Toothless and Hazy guarding the front of the stall and froze. Though Toothless was snoring off to the side and Hazy was blowing smoke at the rabbits on the counter, scaring them.

"Hazy! Stop that!" Hiccup scolded as he ran up to the stall. "You know not to scare them! That's not nice!"

Hazy looked down in shame, kicking her newly healed front leg back and forth, lightly scratching the wood she stood on. Hazy's legs had taken longer than Hiccup had originally thought to heal, but after a month under Hiccup's careful eye they were good as new. However, during that healing time, she had gotten into the habit of messing with the rabbits out of boredom. He had told her not to do it before, but whenever her boredom got too be too much, she seemed to conveniently forget.

"Th-that-that's a-a-a dragon!" Levin said, pointing at Toothless, who opened an eye to see what the noise was, and shut it when he didn't see anything especially interesting.

"Yeah, his name is Toothless." Hiccup said clearly calm, picking up Hazy and scratching her head. "And this is Hazy."

"B-b-but I th-thought that Vikings killed dragons?" Levin asked, looking very confused but trying to still stand tall and strong.

"Well, yes, most do, but not here." Hiccup said, looking down at Hazy who had practically fallen asleep in his arms. "Dragons are welcome here. Toothless and Hazy are my friends."

"But-but." Levin was so confused he couldn't complete his sentence.

Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the confusion that covered the teen's once glaring and sneering face, clearly Ivan hadn't told his son much about the island, let alone the fact that there were dragons on it that lived happily beside the people and Vikings. Hiccup decided to take it easy on him, after all, he had promised the teen's dad that he would be his friend.

"Do you want to pet Hazy?" Hiccup said, holding out the small dragon and walking towards Levin, who took a step back. "She wont bite you, will you girl?"

Hazy whined and let out a puff of smoke, giving them a smile. Hiccup chuckled and scratched Hazy's head, causing the small dragon to purr.

"Here, she's not scary, pet her." Hiccup suggested, stepping closer, close enough for Levin to be able to pet Hazy easily. "Here."

Hiccup grabbed Levin's hand and pulled it towards Hazy's head and Levin was frozen solid and couldn't pull back even if he tried. Hiccup guided Levin's hand to the top of Hazy's head. Hazy twitched as the hand touched her head, but she trusted Hiccup completely so she didn't feel the new boy was a threat and nuzzled his palm. Levin, on the other hand, seemed to snap out of his stupor and yanked his hand back in shock. He stayed where he stood, staring from his palm as he clutched it to his chest, then back to the small dragon, not sure what to think. He looked to Hiccup confused at what had just happened.

"Not so scary are they?" Hiccup smiled, petting Hazy's head.

"But..." Levin looked so confused, Hiccup thought it was adorable. "How?"

"It's a long story, but if you'd like, we could spend the afternoon together and I could tell you." Hiccup asked, he really didn't want to be on bad terms with Ivan's son, it would make things far more complicated than his life needed to be. Besides, Levin clearly was just nervous about moving into a new place, one that he knew nothing about, Hiccup thought of it as a challenge to get Levin out of his shell. "I wont bite, and neither will they."

Before Levin could reply though, Amalie ran up to Hiccup with a huge smile on her face and flowers in her hair.

"Hiccup! Can I take Hazy to the forest while I collect herbs?" She asked with a large smile.

Because of her love of flowers, Amalie had come to know about each and every one of them, and what their uses were for medicines, and subsequently, she learned about other herbs and such used in medicines and became the Healers' and Florists' official herb and flower gatherer, which meant she got paid a few Silver a week for what she gathered. However, the forests at the end of the island held dangerous animals, wolves, boars, and such, so she either went with her sister or took Hazy for protection, it was usually Hazy that went because Hazy loved flying in between the trees and playing with the small wild animals.

"Sure, how could I deny this little angel her forest trip." Hiccup smiled down at Hazy, who was smiling back with her tongue hanging out. "Go on, you girls have fun."

With that, Hazy leaped out of Hiccup's arms and landed on Amalie's head and together they ran off and out of sight. Hiccup chuckled at the girl's energy, Hiccup could never be that excited about flowers or herbs, he didn't know how they did it. Hiccup turned back to Levin still chuckling but stopped when he saw the Roman's blank face, his hand still clutched to his chest.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked, placing a hand on Levin's shoulder, causing the Teen to jump.

"Uh, yeah." Levin answered in a distracted tone. "Uh..."

"Copper for your thoughts?" Hiccup asked when the Roman paused.

"Um..." Levin seemed to be warring with himself, wanting to ask his question but not at the same time.

"Come on," Hiccup urged. "Like I said, I won't bite. I'll answer any questions I can."

"Well..." Levin dropped his hand to his side, seemly giving in to his curiosity and sighed. "What are dragons doing here? Are there others?"

"Right now there's just Hazy and Toothless that visit the Trading Area." Hiccup answered. "They're here because they're both my friends and a few months ago, me and Toothless saved the Post from bandits, so no one can really complain that they're here."

"They can't complain?" Levin asked confused. "They're dragons! Aren't they mindless beasts? Isn't it dangerous for them to be out in the open like this? Are the villagers scared of them?"

Hiccup was surprised at the barrage of questions, and was about to get angry at the 'mindless beasts' comment, but was happy when he realized the wording of Levin's questions. It didn't seem like he actually thought Dragons were mindless beasts, only that he thought everyone else thought that. And if the way he worded his other questions, he was worried the dragons were in danger too, not just the villagers. This made Hiccup happy, but he needed to tell Levin the truth so he didn't think wrong.

"Dragons are NOT mindless beasts. They are very intelligent animals. They understand us and aren't a danger to anyone that's not trying to hurt me or my friends." Hiccup said very strongly, but not harshly, so as to get the point across. "Besides, the people of the Trading Post aren't scared of dragons. There are a few that live in the mountains and forests on the other side of the island, and a few that live near the outskirts of the town, but they keep mostly to themselves. And since the Post doesn't get raided by dragons, the villagers have never had a reason to fear them. So Toothless and Hazy aren't in danger from the villagers."

"But-but..." Levin tried to argue, but couldn't speak as his mind tried to wrap itself around a dragon friendly island. "How could people not hate or fear dragons? How can someone as small as you not fear such a large creature!" He pointed frantically at Toothless, who now had both eyes open and was watching the two teens.

"He's my best friend, I could never hate him. And I could never be scared of him, he's amazing. He's showed me so many things I would have never experienced if it weren't for him!" Hiccup said happily.

Levin didn't looked convinced, glancing warily at Toothless, and Hiccup made a split second decision, one that he hadn't ever thought of before. He grabbed Levin by the wrist and dragged him towards Toothless.

"Here, I'll show you." Hiccup said, and like telepathy, Toothless smiled his gummy smile at him and uncurled so his saddle was accessible. "Come on."

"Wha-what!?" Levin practically yelled as he was pulled towards the large dragon. "No! Let go!"

He tried to pull himself out of the Viking's grip, but was surprised to find that he couldn't. The smaller teen had what felt like a death grip on his wrist, and he was surprised at how strong the scrawny boy was.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you." Hiccup said jumping on Toothless' back, still holding onto Levin. "Hop on. I'm going to show you a whole new world."

Levin was hesitant, very hesitant, but he couldn't get Hiccup's hand off of his wrist, and the dragon, Toothless, was giving him an expectant look, it seemed like he didn't have much of a choice. Using Hiccup's grip, he pulled himself up onto the dragon, behind Hiccup.

"Now hold on tight." Hiccup said, pulling Levin's arm around his midsection as he clipped himself into the saddle. "We get going pretty fast."

Levin would never admit it under threat or torture, but he whimpered just a bit at the thought of falling off the dragon, because clearly, they were going to fly, and Levin wasn't all that great with heights. He quickly wrapped his arms around Hiccup's waist and held on tight.

"All right Toothless, nice and easy." Hiccup said, patting Toothless on the forehead. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

Toothless stood and spread his wings before softly jumping into the air, soaring over the Trading Area. Several people looked up at them as they flew, some even pointed at them with smiles on their faces. Several children tried chasing after them, but Toothless's speed was easily triple theirs. Hiccup smiled and waved down to the children before losing them. He looked back at Levin to see how he was fairing for his first flight on a dragon, and Hiccup didn't know why, but he felt that it was the first of many for the Teen. But what he saw made him frown: Levin's eyes were tightly shut.

"Hey, it's okay, open your eyes." Hiccup soothed, but Leven just shook his head and buried his face into Hiccup's shoulder, causing Hiccup to tense, he'd never really been this close to another person before.

Sure he'd been given hugs by his friends, but he was still getting used to physical contact as a regular, everyday thing. And this was different than a friendly or motherly hug. He wasn't really sure what to do, it was clear that Levin was scared, heck, who wouldn't be? But Hiccup couldn't show the Roman a new world if he kept his eyes shut the whole time now could he?

"Hey, come on. There's nothing to be scared of." Hiccup said, trying to sound casual. "We're only about twenty feet above the ground. Even if you did somehow fall, you wouldn't get hurt. A bruise at the most."

That seemed to help a bit, as Levin loosened his death grip on Hiccup's midsection.

"There ya go. Now just open your eyes." Hiccup encouraged. "Take a look at this, it's beautiful."

It seemed his curiosity got the better of him once again as Hiccup felt him lift his head off his shoulder. They were now over the water and with barely a cloud in the sky, the ocean was sparkling like diamonds in the midmorning sun. Hiccup heard Levin gasp as his head moved around, taking in the birds flying besides them and the crystal clear water below. Hiccup maneuvered Toothless closer to the water and he leaned down, to touch it, causing Levin to either lean with him or let go of the dragon rider.

Levin marveled at the beauty of the ocean and the birds. He was scared when Hiccup leaned over, but his fear quickly fled him when Hiccup splashed the water through the air. It was so beautiful. The water sparkled in the sun, looking like stars. Hiccup sat back up and they began to climb higher and his fear started to return. He tightened his grip on Hiccup, but this time, instead of burying his face in Hiccup's shoulder, he rested his chin on it, keeping his eyes open so he could see what was happening.

"See?" Hiccup said with a smile. "Not so scary is it?"

He felt Levin shake his head from its spot on his shoulder. Soon Levin was loosening his grip again, even leaning over to look below them on his own. At one point in the flight, when they'd reached the clouds, Levin even let go of Hiccup to reach out and touch one, even if for only a second before his arms returned to Hiccup's waist. They flew in the sky for a good hour before returning, landing back at Hiccup's stall. Adlis was waiting for them, watching the stall while his friend was gone.

"Hiccup!" Adlis yelled as they approached in the air.

"Hey Adlis." Hiccup greeted as they landed.

"Who's that?" Adlis asked, spotting Levin on the back of Toothless.

"This is Levin." Said Hiccup as he helped Levin from Toothless's back. "He's Ivan's son. I'm showing him around."

"I see you introduced him to Toothless." Adlis said, sounding a bit dejected.

"What?" Hiccup asked, confused at his friends tone as he hopped off Toothless.

"You've never let us fly with you." Adlis pouted, crossing his arms.

"Oh come off it." Hiccup huffed and rolled his eyes. "You can find your own dragon to ride."

"What? But what about him?" Adlis whined, pointed at Levin. "You let him ride Toothless!"

"Because I had to show him that dragons weren't dangerous." Hiccup sighed in exasperation.

"Oh come on!" Adlis's whining was reaching new heights.

"Why would I let you fly with us? You're scared of heights anyway!" Hiccup countered.

The two bickered for a minute before they stopped at the sound of chuckling. They both turned to see Levin bent over and chuckling into his hand, clearly trying to keep his laughs in check, and failing. Hiccup smiled, it was good to see the boy laughing. He was very handsome when he smiled and his laugh trilled through the air like wind chimes, it was a vast contrast from his scowling and serious look earlier.

"Th-that was AMAZING!" Levin exclaimed, still on a flying high. "He's amazing!"

Levin pet Toothless's head, still a bit hesitant, but brave nonetheless. Toothless crooned at the petting and licked Levin's hand, causing him to squeak in surprise. Both Hiccup and Adlis laughed as Levin tried to wipe the dragon saliva off his hand, but to no avail.

"Sorry, he does that." Hiccup said, grabbing a rough cloth from inside the stall. "It doesn't wash out, but you can wipe most of it off, here."

Hiccup took Levin's hand in his own and wiped the majority of the saliva away.

"Thanks, uh..." Levin hesitated. "It was Hiccup right?"

"Yep, that's me." Hiccup smiled. "Hiccup the Free"

"M-maybe we can... uh, um... fly again sometime?" Levin stuttered out, a blush on his face.

"Uh, sure." Hiccup said, slightly confused at the blush, but happy Levin wasn't scared of Toothless. "That'd be great."

"Cool." Levin hesitated, looking around. "Um... Could you show me how to get back to my father's booth?"

"Of course!" Hiccup smiled before turning to Toothless. "Now you watch the stall Bud, I'll be back soon."

Toothless nodded before plopping down in front of the stall, and seemingly falling asleep.

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Adlis huffed.

"Don't be such a baby Ad, you know Toothless is much scarier than you." Hiccup chuckled.

"He's an overgrown puppy!" Adlis declared.

"Still more scary than you." Levin said under his breath, but Hiccup heard it and snorted.

"I'll be back in a bit, you both can watch it." Hiccup sighed in fond exasperation. "Is that fair?"

"Fine." Adlis grumbled as he went back to his stall. "Go have fun with your new boyfriend."

Both boys blushed at the accusation, though Hiccup retaliated by grabbing an apple from his stall, and throwing it at Adlis as he turned away from them, hitting him in the back of the head with a greater accuracy thank Hiccup had expected.

"OW!" Adlis screeched, grabbing his now throbbing head.

"Uh oh. Come on, lets go." Hiccup quickly grabbed Levin's wrist and dragged the Roman boy through the crowds and away from the angry teen sill in the stall, curse words following them. Once safely away from the stall, the two laughed.

"Is he alway like that?" Levin asked through his chuckles.

"So easy to tease?" Hiccup asked with his own giggles, getting a nod he continued. "Yeah, he's like a big 10 year old."

They laughed entire way back to Ivan's stall, Hiccup answering any and all questions Levin had, which was quite a lot. Hiccup even stayed with the father and son for a while to answer more of Levin's question. Ivan was smiling the entire time, happy the two had become such good friend in such a short amount of time. He hadn't expected their friendship to blossom so quickly, but whatever Hiccup had done once they'd left his stall earlier that day, it had worked like a charm.

 **\- Back on Berk -**

"Get the sails ready! Stock those ships with plenty of weapons!" Stoick the Vast yelled out at the Vikings around him as he stood at the docks. "We leave in an hour! We'd best be ready!"

He looked back up at the village, or what was left of it, they'd had another raid last night, the worst he'd seen in years. He didn't know what had gotten into the devils, but they were getting worse, lighting everything on fire, instead of just stealing food, they'd gotten tougher, and their numbers had increased. They'd also seen new dragons they'd never encountered on, or even around, Berk before. No one knew why they'd come, Gothi had predicted a huge turn in the war with the dragons, for the best or the worst, had yet to be seen. Honestly, he was just glad that the blasted Night Fury hadn't returned. It'd been absent since before the Freeze, since before their last hunt for the Nest, before the last Freeze had set in. He was thanking Odin for that strike of luck.

He momentarily thought back to that night, it was the last raid before Hiccup had vanished, and he couldn't help but think about what Hiccup had said.

 _"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury."_

He hadn't believed him them, thinking he was just trying to get out of trouble, but, now that he thought back, the Night Fury hadn't returned since that night, it may have been possible.

" _I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point."_

It made a vast amount of sense that the dragon wouldn't have come back, if Hiccup had actually hit it. And he had called Hiccup out on lying in front of the whole village, if he hadn't been lying, then it would have been heart braking for him.

" _It's not like the last few times."_

Stoick shook his head, he couldn't think like that. He needed to focus on finding the Nest. Hiccup didn't want them looking for him, therefore he wouldn't waste anymore time and man power looking for someone who didn't want to be found. He felt a spike of anger rush through him as he remembered when he and Gobber had told the entire village. At first, everyone had been happy, which pissed him and Gobber off, but as the days and weeks passed, they realized just how big a part of their lives Hiccup had been. The village still felt the loss even after all these months. And it had been 8 months since Hiccup had left, the search parties had returned with no news of him. Every island said the same thing, they'd not seen the Berk heir, or even a stranger stopping on their shores. Many feared he'd died in the Freeze and no one dared say his name anymore, it was practically taboo now.

He shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about him, he wouldn't just return to them because he thought hard enough. He doubted Hiccup would ever return of his own free will, based on the letter he'd left. It made him angry, at Hiccup, which he knew wasn't really fair, but he couldn't help it anymore. Hiccup had run away, abandoned him, and now he didn't know if he was even alive. He'd lost his only family left. First he'd lost Valka to the Dragons, now Hiccup.

"Odin help me." Stoick sighed in frustration.

He knew he would probably never find Hiccup, even with the whole village, heck the Archipelago searching for him. Hiccup has always been more observant and more intelligent than the average Viking, just because Hiccup's inventions didn't always work, didn't mean that Stoick hadn't noticed his son's creations, just like his mother, always coming up with new ideas, even if they weren't Viking like. Stoick sighed again, the boy was just like his mother, but that also meant that even if he did somehow find Hiccup, it wouldn't end in a happiness.

Stoick absentmindedly walked towards the end of the dock, looking out at the clear blue water that stretched on for miles. He'd give up looking for Hiccup, to both respect his son's wishes and because he had bigger problems. With the sudden increase in raids and their intensity, finding the nest was even more crucial to the village surviving, and trying to find Hiccup was useless anyway. Still looking out at the ocean, he felt eyes on him and instinctually knew who was behind him.

"Gobber, you watch the fort while I'm gone." Stoick said to his friend. "Make sure those Devils don't burn it to the ground while we're gone."

"You find the Nest this time and I won't have to." Gobber smiled, clapping the man on the back. "Good luck."

Stoick nodded at his friend before climbing onto one of the ships, helping get them ready for the hunt. Finding Hiccup would have to wait until after he found and destroyed the nest: No matter how long that took.

 **\- Back with Hiccup: a little over 2 years later -**

Hiccup and Toothless soared over the Trading Post, Hazy flying a few feet to their right, and Levin, on Aquacel, a Sliquifier, to his left. They were taking a break from their stalls to have a midday flight. They'd taken to doing so around lunch time, when Toothless and Aquacel got testy from being around so many people and itched to get into the sky. The two riders had no qualms with giving in to the dragons' needs, all the dragon's could use more air time, and Hiccup was happy to fly with Toothless, he truly felt more at ease in the air than on the ground, like he had the first day he'd flown with Toothless back on Berk.

Remembering that day, Hiccup liked to think that he hadn't changed all that much since he'd arrived to the Trading Post, but he had to admit to certain, obvious changes. He was quite a bit taller than he had been before, taller than nearly all the teens, except Levin, who was still a good two inches taller than him. His hair had grown out a bit, just hitting his shoulders. Amalie liked to braid his hair while he was spacing out and not paying attention. He would undo most of them later, but a few he couldn't get due to how tight she'd braided them. She also liked to stick flowers in his hair when he wasn't looking. Luckily Hazy would eat all of them before too long, so he didn't have to worry about them. He also had stubble now, he didn't want a beard, he didn't want to have to deal with that much hair, besides, he was use to not having facial hair, so he cut it so there was nothing but stubble.

Adlis, Grout, and Gabble all said that he'd come out of his shell more since Levin had shown up. Hiccup had to smile at that, looking over at the Roman who flew beside him. He had noticed himself being more gutsy in the past few years. He guessed he wanted Levin to fit in more so he tried new things the Roman liked so he didn't feel left out. It had definitely been worth it. Hiccup had to admit though, he liked all the changes he'd gone through, he felt more confident in himself.

Hiccup laid back on Toothless, staring at the cloud-filled sky. It was such a calm and beautiful day. He loved days like this, he could just sit back and relax, enjoy the calm of the clouds as they passed over him, enjoy the light breeze that ruffled his hair. Hiccup took a deep breath and slowly let it out as he relaxed into Toothless's saddle. Suddenly a dragon zoomed over him, and Hiccup only smiled at the voice that followed.

"Hey! Come on Hiccup! You slowpoke!" Adlis yelled from the back of Sameleon, his Sand Wraith. "Not getting rusty are you?"

"Hey Hic, he's at it again." Amalie said to his right, from the back of Spineshot, her multicolored Nadder.

"I think we need to teach him a lesson." Jensina called out from her Shivertooth named Icebreath, as she came up next to her sister, but on the other side of Hazy. "Again."

Hiccup smirked at his friends, they were right. Occasionally, meaning at least once a week, Adlis would try to show he was the best dragon rider, sadly, everyone but him knew the truth, but he'd get so insufferable, Adlis would need to be put in his place, each and every time, playfully of course. Which meant a race, one that would end up with Adlis mercilessly left in Toothless's and his metaphorical, and sometimes literal, dust.

"Right, on it." Hiccup said and sat up, clicking the pedal that controlled Toothless' tail fin into a different position. "Come on Bud, lets show them who the real rusty fliers are."

Toothless gave a determined warble and took off, leaving everyone behind as they broke the sound barrier. They quickly caught up to Adlis laughing as he stared in surprise at them as they continued to fly ahead of them at break neck speeds. The funny thing was, they weren't even going as fast as they could go, maybe only 2/3rds as fast as they could go, no need to their full speed to beat Adlis. If they went at their top speed, the others wouldn't be able to see them.

They raced around the entire island, the other teens trying to catch up with them. It was safe to say that Hiccup and Toothless had won the race, they'd never lost one since they'd started just over a year ago. It was great fun, and everyone, at one point or another, had tried to best the Night Fury and his rider, but all had given up pretty quickly, all except Adlis, who still believed that it was possible to beat the fastest dragon in the Archipelago in a race.

Like they all new, Hiccup won, actually lapping Adlis in their race around the island, causing Adlis to scowl at his loss. They landed out on one of the sea stacks to the North of the island where the others had landed to watch Adlis loose spectacularly.

"Another win for the deadly duo." Jensina laughed as Adlis slid off Sameleon with a huff. "That's what, Hiccup and Toothless infinity, Adlis zero?"

"Can't we just give him the automatic win?" Amalie asked with a chuckle. "There's no way any of us can beat him."

"More like we should ban him from participating." Levin smirked at them. "It'll allow one of us to take the title."

"And how would that be fair?" Hiccup asked as he dismounted Toothless and walked over to the other teens. "You would all know that you'd still be second to us."

"That's true." Amalie agreed, eyeing Adlis, who was still moping about losing again.

"Maybe we can just race for second best?" Jensina offered. "Then the winner can try, and fail, to beat Hiccup and Toothless."

"That sound fair." Levin said, looking at Adlis as he perked up at the thought of trying to beat them all. "I think Ad's up for it."

"So we'll race each other and the winner races Hiccup and Toothless?" Adlis asks excitedly, causing everyone to chuckle at his excitement. "Lets get flying!"

Adlis jumped back onto Sameleon and took to the sky, waiting impatiently for the other's to mount their dragons. Amalie and Jensina hopped on Spineshot and Icebreath, and flew up to him and began discussing what the race would consist of. Levin turned to Hiccup, who was next to him, leaning comfortably against Toothless, an amused look on his face.

"Enjoying the show?" Levin asked, standing right in front of Hiccup.

"Very much so." Hiccup smirked at him. "Good luck."

Hiccup leaned up and gave Levin a peck on the lips, causing the Roman to smile tenderly at him.

"Hey! Cut it out you love birds!" Jensina yelled down to them. "Come on Levin! Adlis is getting antsy, and we all know what happens when he gets antsy!"

"Hurry up or you're disqualified!" Adlis yelled, only to yelp at being hit by Jensina.

"You better get up there and kick their buts." Hiccup smiled. "I'd like a good challenge."

"Oh, don't worry, me and Aqua will be finished with this and racing you in no time." Levin said, kissing Hiccup before hopping on Aquacel and taking flight.

Hiccup couldn't help the goofy smile that was plastered on his face. He was happy, beyond happy, in fact. His life was perfect at the moment. He lived with his best friend in an amazingly beautiful place, had an amazing job, making plenty of money to live off of, he didn't even have to work every day, now days he only opened his stall every other day. He'd even bought a small house in the forest on the Trading Post for those days he was just too tired to fly back with Toothless, and he had quite a few friends, all of whom had a dragon partner of their own.

But the real kicker was that a about a year and a half ago, him and Levin had started dating. They had felt the spark of chemistry on the very first day they'd met, even if Levin had been a complete jerk at first, of which, both agreed was true. But Hiccup had gotten through to him with Toothless's help and gotten on better than a Nightmare on fire. Sure it had just been a spark of friendship then, but it had quickly grew into more. The friendship that had started was easy and comfortable. They got along as if they'd been friends for years, it just felt right, to both of them. With in weeks they had inside jokes, and teased each other about things that were touchy with others. Ivan was shocked at how quickly Hiccup and his son became friends, but was ecstatic nonetheless at the quick forming friendship, and what was clearly developing further.

Apparently everyone had seen that they liked each other, and had tried for nearly 4 months to get them together, but had failed until the dragons stepped in. They had flown the two to a tall sea stack and left them there for nearly a whole day. When Jensina and Amalie had gone to pick them up, they'd found the two boys in a rather rumpled state; their clothes were messy, some buttons undone and some even broken, their hair was messy, and their faces flushed, luckily they'd been fully dressed though. They'd been together ever since.

Before Levin, Hiccup had only ever liked Astrid, and hadn't truly thought there was another option, sure he'd known that Gobber had fancied men, but Gobber was Gobber, and he'd always been different than everyone else, after all, he'd actually liked Hiccup. But back on Berk, Homosexuality was frowned upon, since a same sex couple like that would never yield children, and the island of Berk was always low on able bodied Vikings, it wasn't banned, but couple were looked down upon and often insulted, The only reason Gobber was well liked was because he was Stoick's best friend, and a damn good blacksmith. Hiccup also thought that it was because Gobber dealt with him, taking care of Hiccup and not complaining about it, had made everyone like him, because they didn't have to deal with Hiccup themselves. But on the Post, there were many same sex couples, both male and female. It was more widely accepted by the Romans, since the populations were vast, and nearly a third of the Post was Romans. Also, the people of the Post weren't constantly at war, losing fighters every raid, taking years to replace them, there was no need to worry about how many children were being born each year. Because of that, Hiccup didn't feel like the odd man out again, even if he was different than nearly all the people on Berk, after all, Berk was in his past.

Hiccup laughed as he watched his friends as they began racing around the island. They'd decided for a 3 lap race, the winner getting to face Hiccup in an all or nothing race around the island that consisted of a lap around the island, zigzags through the sea stacks, a figure eight through the Trading Post, and finishing off with one more lap around the island. Hiccup had fun watching the Teens race each other.

Levin and Aqua won, much to Adlis and Sameleon's chagrin, and the two huffed as they walked towards Hiccup with the others. No one should have been surprised, Aqua was a Sliquifier after all, the fastest dragon in the Tidal class, and Sameleon was a Sand Wraith, known for their intelligence, not their speed. Once the Teens landed, Hiccup gave Levin a congratulatory kiss.

"Looks like we'll be racing for the championship." Levin smirked down at him. "Wonder who'll win?"

"Wanna make it interesting?" Hiccup asked mischievously. "Wanna make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?" Levin asked, noting the look in Hiccup's eyes, that usually meant one of two things for him, either he was going to hate it, or really, REALLY, love it.

"A private one." Hiccup said slyly, fingering a button on Levin's shirt. _Oh yeah, I've definitely come out of my shell._ Hiccup thought with a smirk.

Levin gulped audibly but smirked, this was definitely in the really, REALLY, love it category. Levin could remember when he'd first met Hiccup, he was rather shy, blushed very easily, even when they'd started dating, Hiccup would hold his hand, but would freak out if he kissed him in public, even just on the cheek. Hiccup and really grown up since then. He pulled Hiccup into a hug and nuzzled his face against Hiccup's neck.

"I really love you sometimes." He mumbled into Hiccup's shoulder.

"What? Only sometimes?" Hiccup said, his voice was full of false offense.

"Hey guys!" Jensina yelled. "Sorry to interrupt your lovey-dovey time, but we've got a situation!"

Levin groaned into his boyfriend's shoulder and he forced himself to let the smaller man go. The two of them turned to the other teens.

"What's the problem?" Hiccup asked seriously, never to dismiss a problem as trivial until proven otherwise.

"Dragons!" Amalie yelled, pointing behind the two boys. "Lots of them!"

They quickly turned around and saw what the others had spotted. A massive group of dragons where quickly flying towards the Post. Hiccup immediately noted that they were flying from the West, from where the Nest was supposed to be. While it had been a few years, Hiccup still remembered the Raids on Berk, and this seemed to be the same thing. They'd had large groups of dragons migrate to or near the Post before, but there were two very distinct differences between those migrations and what he saw now. 1) The dragons' migrating were always of the same species, and 2) They always came from the West or the North, never from the South or the East. Hiccup instantly snapped into motion.

"Everyone, back to the Post, we've got to warn everyone." Hiccup said seriously, jumping on Toothless.

"Hiccup?" Levin asked warily, it was very rare nowadays for Hiccup to be so serious. "What's happening?"

"It's..." Hiccup gulped and looked at his friends before turning to look down at his boyfriend grimly. "It's a dragon raid."

* * *

 **E/N~ So? What'd You Think? Great Ending... Right? Heh... Heh... I'M SORRY! I Didn't Want To Leave It There! But I HAD NO CHOICE! This Chapter Was Already 6.5k When I Finished It, & That Was Without Editing It & Adding More Detail! Next Chapter Will Be A Lot More Action! I Promise! **

**Anyway, I Hope You All Liked This! Please Drop Me A Review To Tell Me Your Thoughts! I Do Read & Reply To All Reviews! X3 **


	7. Author's Note(IMPORTANT!)

Hi Everyone. I Know, I Know, This Isn't What You Were Waiting For. Sadly, I've Got Bad News For Everyone. I'm Closing Down This Account. Well, At Least The Posting Part Of It. I'll Be Leaving My Stories Up For People To Read, But They Won't Be Finished Here. Now, Before Any Hearts Break, Or Riots Happen, I Will Be Finishing My Stories Over On AO3(Archive of Our Own) Under The Same Username. Only With Underscores Instead Of Spaces. **Post_U_Later**. I'm Currently In The Process Of Converting My Stories Over To There, Where I Will Try To Update More Regularly Than I Have In The Past.

I've Been Thinking About Putting My Stories On AO3 For A Long Time Now, Even Though At First I Didn't Like AO3, But The More I Read Stuff Over There, The More I Grew To Love It. & While I Originally Thought To Just Put My Stuff Up There As Well As Here, Some Things Have Caused Me To Change My Mind In The 'As Well As Here' Regard.

Now, The Reason I'm Doing This Is Because I've Found My Stores On Other Websites(Which I Didn't Give Permission To Use My Stories) Where People Have To Pay To Read. It's Very Frustrating & Insulting That People Would Steal My Work, But It's Even More Frustrating That People Are Out There Paying To Read What I Write When I Never Made Them With The Intent To Make Money. & People Are Getting Ripped Off Because Of It. FFN Isn't Secure Enough & I Urge Other Author's To Look Around To Make Sure Their Works Aren't Being Stolen As Well. I've Made Several Complaints Against The Sites That I Found My Work On Though I Don't Know If Anything's Really Being Done About It. You Know How Google Is, But With The Crappy Security That FFN Has(If Any Exists At All), I Don't Feel My Work's Are Safe Here, So I'm Moving Them Over To AO3.

I'm Sorry To Anyone Who Dislikes AO3, But I've Been Using Them More & More Lately. They Have A Better Searching System & A Better Review System Too. As Well As A Better Warning System For Stories That Are Explicit Or Not For Underage Readers. & I'm Absolutely In Love With The Tagging System They Have. It's Just Much Easier To Find Stories You Like Or Want To Read.

Again, I'm Sorry, This Might Seem Abrupt, But I've Been Dealing With This Since Just After I Last Updated Mutant Emotions(That's Just After X-Mas Of 2015). I'll Be Sure To Put A Notice On My Profile & In All The Summaries. & Again, I WON'T Be Taking The Stories Down. Even The Finished Ones.

& I Know I Might Have Told Some Of You Guys In PMs That I Would Most Likely Post One Last Chapter Before Stopping, But As I've Been Dealing With Downloading & Converting ALL My Stories, As Well As Editing Each One, I Haven't Had The Time To Write Lately, So I'm Sorry But That's Not Gonna Happen.

I Want To Thank Everyone Who's Reviewed, Followed, Favorited, & All My Loyal Readers For Everything, For All The Encouragement & Love You've Given Me, & I'm Sorry That This Has To Happen, But For The Sake Of My Stories & Those Being Robbed To Read Them, I Have To Move From FFN To AO3. I Hope To See You There. X3


	8. AO3 Update

Hey Guys! I Know I Said That I Wasn't Going To Post An Update On When I Started Uploading My Stories Over On AO3, But I've Decided To Since So Many Of You Wanted It. So I'm Gonna Just Post An Update When I Start Uploading A Story That Hasn't Been Finished Here On FFN.

I.E. Mutant Emotions, Freedom To Find A Home, Not A Pet, Forgotten Memories & Found Love, Neal's Brother... SAY WHAT?, Deserted Islands Aren't For Vacations, The Resumé Of Shawn Spencer, & Those Eyes.

I Wanna Also Apologize For The Long Wait On Me Actually Posting These Stories Over On A03. I Got A Job A Few Months Ago, As Well As Started A YouTube Channel & They've Been Taking Up Most Of My Time. I Haven't Even Been Able To Read Stories Very Much Lately. Anyway, I'll Try To Do Better, I Know I Owe It To You Guys.

My Plan Right Now Is To Edit A Few Stories/Chapters & Upload Them All At Once, & Do That Once A Month. So If Everything Goes As Planned, You'll Get Like 3/4 Stories Posted/Updated A Month.

 **As Of Now, The Stories I've Posted Over On AO3 Are:**

Mutant Emotions Ch.1

No Choice

The End Of The World

Snowboarding & Free Coffee

The Freedom To Find A Home Ch.1

 **Previously Posted:**

Atmis

Bitch Slapped


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